The government health program the GOP wants to gut has had a big impact on the opioid epidemic

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March 22, 2017 9:12 PM

The move has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats for the effect it would have on people suffering from substance use disorders.

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One of the key proposals of the American Healthcare Act

The 26 states that opted to expanded Medicaid in 2014 saw Medicaid-covered buprenorphine prescriptions rise 70% over the course of one year. Meanwhile, Medicaid spending on buprenorphine rose in those states by 50%.

"Our findings suggest that Medicaid expansion has the potential to reduce the financial barriers to buprenorphine utilization and improve access to medication-assisted treatment [MAT] of opioid use disorder," the study concluded.

Those findings will be a moot point if the AHCA passed.

The bill proposes rolling back the

Bradley Stein,

Access is still a major issue. As The Huffington Post's Jason Cherkis reported in 2015, many addicts have been forced to go on months-long waiting lists or travel hours every week to obtain suboxone treatment. The Obama Administration took steps last year to open up access by allowing doctors to prescribe to more patients — doctors were previously limited to 100 patients at a time — but access and affordability remain large issues.

The Medicaid rollback would affect both those issues.

Medicaid patients trying to get medication-assisted treatment are only a small part of those affected by the AHCA rollback.

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