The authors evaluate the impact of this benefit expansion policy for four categories of major disease (cancer, cardiac disease, cerebrovascular disease, and rare diseases) on catastrophic health expenditures, impoverishment, and unmet need.
Their findings indicate that the insurance expansion has had modest and mixed effects on financial protection of beneficiaries.
The policy protects households from catastrophic health expenditure; however, the authors find no positive policy effect on preventing beneficiary households from being impoverished or decreasing unmet need among beneficiaries.
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The authors call for expanding methadone treatment to office-based settings as a critical step towards overdose prevention and improving the lives of patients with OUD.
Richard Bonnie and coauthors also write about expanding access to methadone treatment, citing challenges that make it difficult for patients to receive care.
Existing requirements in methadone treatment force many patients to travel to an opioid treatment program daily to receive their medicine. This is often difficult, especially in rural areas, effectively precluding access to treatment.
The authors advocate for new regulations to improve patient access to methadone, such as extending "take home" options for medicine and incentivizing states to expand access to methadone. Your support enables us to continue providing a platform for diverse voices and perspectives in health policy. Consider becoming a Health Affairs Insider member so we can continue to provide commentary and analysis on Health Affairs Forefront.
Health Policy And Gun Violence
Health Affairs's Jessica Bylander and Vabren Watts discuss this week's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the recent history of gun policy in the United States.
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
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