Opioid Epidemic

Alicia Schnack

Ms. Clayton

ENG111.71

5 December 2017                

Opioid Crisis

Death, overdose and addiction a opioid crisis or misused medications? The government and insurance companies should not decide how much opioids people with chronic conditions receive. The recent opioid epidemic has created new stricter laws that have hindered patients suffering from real chronic conditions from getting the medication they need for a better quality of life. The government and insurance companies along with pharmacies are now making patients medical treatment decisions.

President Donald Trump recently declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency (The white house, release). However, not all opioid users are addicts or victims of overdose. For masses of people suffering from chronic pain regular life is impossible without this medication. The new laws are great for emergency rooms and urgent care centers who should referrer their patients back to primary care for pain management but, instead patients suffering from chronic life conditions are taking the biggest hit. Why does the government and insurance companies decide what is the appropriate treatment? If a physician is treating someone for a chronic condition, it should be the responsibility of the physician to make that choice not the government or insurance company.  Most people who are over dosing on these medications and abusing them will get them with or without a script But, the 75-year-old lady with Parkinson disease or cancer will suffer. With regulators and health industry leaders continuing to bear down on opioids, and the arrival of a new president whose statements indicate that he might further restrict opioid distribution (Stat, civil war), “it’s put the fear of God in me” is a common phrase heard from chronic opioid users who need the medication to function daily.

 North Carolina department of health and human services released its report on opioid overdoses in June, according to the information between 2011 and 2016 visits to the emergency room for opioid related reasons was over 13,000 in North Carolina alone. However, what is not being mentioned in all the press releases and “epidemic” enthusiast is that while heroin is an opioid it is being included in these numbers. Heroin is an illegal opioid not a prescription medication. If Heroin was removed from the equation the number of ER visits would drop almost 6,000 cases of overdose. The data further breaks down age groups associated with these overdoses almost 80% of them are ages 25-55. The remaining 20% are 55 and over. The 20% are the most likely to have chronic conditions and cancers that require medication to improve the quality of life. (NC department of health and human services)

        CVS Health announced that it is limiting the amount and strength of prescription opioid painkillers it provides to patients taking the drugs, a step intended to help curb opioid abuse. The program will also limit daily dosages and require that immediate-release formulations of drugs be given before extended-release versions are prescribed. CVS said the new rules will bring the company in line with prescribing guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year. “The CDC Guideline should become the default approach to prescribing opiates, a scenario in which physicians would have to seek exceptions for those patients who need more medication or longer duration of therapy,” the officials wrote. “What is more, pharmacy benefit managers are better placed than others in the pharmacy supply chain to put this approach to the CDC Guideline into practice,”. (CVS tightens restrictions) Wait, CVS a Pharmaceutical company is deciding if the prescription from a medical physician can be filled, and how? What people forget is, those who end up on opioid pain management have usually tried everything else unsuccessfully. Insurance companies are now even requiring prior authorizations for these medications on a yearly calendar. That means if a patient has chronic back pain from a car accident that has perhaps made them disabled they have to every year file for extensions on their medication along, with the chance that every month the prescription may be denied.