The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Dear John,
A new study shows that while Medicaid expansion increased evidence-based addiction treatment for people involved in the criminal justice system, treatment gaps still remain.
Health Law And The Opioid Epidemic
There are clear connections between substance use disorder and the criminal justice system. The majority of adults in US prisons and jails have a substance use disorder, and among people with opioid use disorder (OUD), more than half have reported contact with the criminal justice system.
But stigma, the loss of insurance during incarceration, and the limited access that people have to coverage and services after being released are all barriers to treatment of OUD. The Affordable Care Act, through states’ expansion of Medicaid, was expected to increase the number of insured justice-involved individuals and improve access to substance use treatment.
In a new paper, Utsha G. Khatri and coauthors studied the impact of Medicaid expansion on
the use of OUD medication and found that, among people referred to treatment by the criminal justice system, use of OUD medicationsrose by 165 percent in states that expanded coverage.
Still, this segment of the population remained "substantially less likely to receive medications for OUD as part of the
treatment plan when compared with those referred through all other sources," in the years both before and after Medicaid expansion.
Today on Health Affairs Blog, Sophia Tripoli and coauthors discuss how several states are developing Medicaid health equity
incentives as part of broader efforts to reform how health care is financed and organized in ways that are intended to improve population health in communities of color.
The Health Affairs Podcast Fellowship is an exciting new program for US-based applicants. The program is intended for early- or mid-early–stage career individuals with an interest in health policy and storytelling.
The program is intended to
support applicants who have an audio project in mind to inform and educate the public. Applicants should have a working knowledge of the topic and an idea of what’s needed to complete their project (interviews, data, field recordings, etc.).
Each fellow will produce a podcast series of at least four episodes using interviews, background briefs, public data, Health Affairs research, and other materials to tell the story.
Candidates are expected to be US-based print or radio journalists, freelance storytellers, solo-preneurs, or academics. The fellowship is designed to enable fellows to work independently over a five-month period (June to October) to produce a podcast series/story of at least four episodes, which Health Affairs will publish soon after.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and
policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
