Medicaid coverage for opioid addiction treatments exploded by 183 percent from 2011 to 2017 in the U.S., a new analysis finds.
The analysis from the left-leaning think tank Urban Institute released Tuesday shows more money is needed for treatment options to tackle the opioid epidemic.
Urban looked at federal data for Medicaid prescriptions for the addiction treatments buprenorphine and naltrexone. It also looked at the overdose antidote naloxone.
The data found that from 2011 to 2017 the number of units paid by Medicaid for these products increased 183 percent from 54.1 million products to 153.3 million.
The drug with the highest increase was naloxone, commonly used by first responders to help overdose victims. Medicaid-covered payments increased 1,109 percent from 9,920 products in 2011 to 119,948 in 2016.
The analysis comes as Congress just passed a new spending bill that funds the government through September and has $3.3 billion for fighting the opioid epidemic, which federal data says killed more than 64,000 people last year.
Lawmakers have said a majority of the funding is expected to go towards expanding treatment options.
Urban said that a “rapid expansion in treatment is needed, and the Medicaid program is providing a large boost in access to care.”
