The federal government’s push to make Medicaid funding more flexible for drug addiction treatment in the last nine years has not stemmed the tide of nonfatal opioid overdoses, an Oregon Health & Science University study found.
The study, published this month in Health Affairs, comes as Oregon is fighting an epidemic of opioid overdoses driven by illicit fentanyl use. On a national level, the study scrutinizes a 2015 change made to Medicaid, which provides health care to nearly 80 million low-income people nationwide. That federal change allowed states to seek a waiver so large institutions can provide Medicaid-funded addiction treatment.
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