Health Affairs July 26, 2024
Addiction treatment is essential to addressing the worsening overdose crisis in the United States. Drug overdose deaths in the United States increased more than 50 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic, from 70,630 deaths in 2019 to 107,941 deaths in 2022.
Opioids are involved in the vast majority of fatal overdoses. And so, medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are an essential component of effective treatment. However, only 22 percent of individuals who could benefit from MOUD actually receive them.
Notably, Medicaid—which covers almost 40 percent of all those with opioid use disorder (OUD) —has the potential to improve access to effective addiction treatment through thoughtful policies that expand coverage, increase provider willingness to offer services, and facilitate high-quality patient-provider interactions.
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