GOP health bill is a disaster for opioid crisis

[libertybele]

GOP health bill is a disaster for opioid crisis

America’s addiction crisis is the defining public health challenge of our time. In 2015, more than 52,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, the majority related to opioids — far more than died from car accidents. More than 20 million Americans live with substance use disorders, leading to immeasurable suffering for individuals and families and costing our nation a staggering $442 billion in health care costs, lost productivity and criminal justice expenses.

Tragically, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House would be a major step backward in addressing the addiction epidemic in America, and the Senate is on the same harmful path.....

.....Senators say they are fixing these problems, but from what we know so far, the fixes are nowhere near adequate. Medicaid expansion funding will likely still end — just more slowly than in the House bill. Millions of people will still be left without insurance. Senators may earmark some funding specifically for addiction treatment but, realistically, it won't be enough to cover the vast numbers who would lose access to treatment. Even more important, such an approach ignores a fundamental reality that addiction is rarely an isolated condition. Many people living with substance use disorders need comprehensive insurance to treat related health conditions such as chronic pain, anxiety and depression.........

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/06/22/gop-health-bill-disaster-substance-abuse-patients-vivek-murthy-column/103023032/

[Hoodat]

Tragically, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House would be a major step backward in addressing the addiction epidemic in America, and the Senate is on the same harmful path.....

Enough already.  Drug overdose deaths have increased 36% since Obamacare was passed.  So getting rid of it won't cost any lives.  If anything, it will save lives once people no longer have Obamacare paying for their fentanyl.

[austingirl]

Enough already.  Drug overdose deaths have increased 36% since Obamacare was passed.  So getting rid of it won't cost any lives.  If anything, it will save lives once people no longer have Obamacare paying for their fentanyl.

Excellent point!

[GtHawk]

Enough already.  Drug overdose deaths have increased 36% since Obamacare was passed.  So getting rid of it won't cost any lives.  If anything, it will save lives once people no longer have Obamacare paying for their fentanyl.

I have chronic pain, and it is like pulling teeth to get medication, and that medication that I do get is not Fentanyl, or Oxycodone, hydrocodone, Norco, or Vicodin. What I am allowed to have is Tramadol, the imitation opioid that is one step up from Tylenol, which is a joke. I know there are shyster doctors out there that prescribe opioids like candy, but they have always been out there and always will be just like people that abuse the drugs, no matter what the government does.

[jmyrlefuller]

Nowhere in this is it even assessed whether the money we are spending is even effective.

[roamer_1]

What I am allowed to have is Tramadol, the imitation opioid that is one step up from Tylenol, which is a joke.

Try Turmeric Milk. Seriously. I was on trams and Norco/hydrocodone 7's, sometimes oxys...
I have none of it now. Just Turmeric Milk. Make it from fresh roots. it is effective for me.

[Frank Cannon]

Pardon me while I don't give a shit. I'm done with paying for other peoples problems.

[truth_seeker]

Obamacare is an invitation for rampant fraud, overbilling, scams, recruitment, etc. Then at the end of using people, they "curb" them which means dump them on the streets to be homeless.

San Clemente Calif. last week, 40 federal LEO raided a so called "treatment" company. Malibu California a company operator has supposedly billed $170 million for "treatment."

Everybody in America is eligible for Betty Ford type "treatment," at cost up to $3,500 per day. And not in a hospital, but in a "sober living house."

Obamacare is ripping off the American taxpayer, for more feel-good liberal BS, this one based on "recovery treatment."

Salvation Army runs effective "low bottom indigent recovery" programs.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Fake news!  The GOP health bill will not make the Nation's opiod crisis worse...it will make the Nation's opioid crisis BETTER.

[Hondo69]

It's a USA Today story.  I'm surprised they didn't say dead babies will be stacking up in the streets.

[Smokin Joe]

Obamacare is an invitation for rampant fraud, overbilling, scams, recruitment, etc. Then at the end of using people, they "curb" them which means dump them on the streets to be homeless.

San Clemente Calif. last week, 40 federal LEO raided a so called "treatment" company. Malibu California a company operator has supposedly billed $170 million for "treatment."

Everybody in America is eligible for Betty Ford type "treatment," at cost up to $3,500 per day. And not in a hospital, but in a "sober living house."

Obamacare is ripping off the American taxpayer, for more feel-good liberal BS, this one based on "recovery treatment."

Salvation Army runs effective "low bottom indigent recovery" programs.

Effectiveness varies, but A/A and N/A (Alcoholics' and Narcotics' Anonymous) programs are all over and free.

[libertybele]

Try Turmeric Milk. Seriously. I was on trams and Norco/hydrocodone 7's, sometimes oxys...
I have none of it now. Just Turmeric Milk. Make it from fresh roots. it is effective for me.

..hmm...I have chronic pain as well and deal with a lot of inflammation.  I've tried Turmeric capsules and seem to be allergic...perhaps the milk would work...how do you make it or where can you buy it??

Right now ginger and peppermint seem to help.  Have you tried boswellia?

[libertybele]

Effectiveness varies, but A/A and N/A (Alcoholics' and Narcotics' Anonymous) programs are all over and free.

First of all, the addiction itself needs to be treated.  Some type of detoxification program and then a program to help with cravings and withdrawal. Those programs are extremely expensive. Willpower doesn't usually cut it as the addict is physically dependent.  AA and NA are great programs to help keep people from relapsing.

[roamer_1]

..hmm...I have chronic pain as well and deal with a lot of inflammation.  I've tried Turmeric capsules and seem to be allergic...perhaps the milk would work...how do you make it or where can you buy it??

@libertybele
Turmeric does you no good at all unless taken with fat, and is supercharged by black pepper. Thus, milk fats and coconut oil as described. You may tweak the recipe given, but do not forget turmeric, fat, and pepper.

One of my fav homesteaders:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6OwJQprvHA

Right now ginger and peppermint seem to help.  Have you tried boswellia?

Thanks for boswellia, I will look into it.

Another very effective thing has been willow bark tea - Honest-to-God aspirin. Poplar or cottonwood in a pinch... You won't believe the effectiveness. Another: Chaga tea, if you live where birch trees grow. Dandelion coffee is also moderately effective in me.

I now forego all prepared remedy except essential oils, and a preference toward forage. I started testing turmeric milk from a kit - A freeze-dried thing... two little scoops into a glass of heated water... It had very little effect, and I almost missed when I rejected it as ineffective.  On advise, and almost a whim, I made one last effort and bought the ginger and turmeric root fresh and gave it a whirl. What a magnificent difference. The final straw against buying prepared medicine from any but a mixing apothecary... Western or alt med - doesn't really matter... A whole lot of shysters delivering worthless or watered remedies. The rest has been cleansing (like Ojibwa tea) and garden/woods fresh food, and walking it off.

In my experience, I dice the ginger and turmeric exceedingly fine, and start it in a pot with the butter or coconut fat, letting it heat up enough to let the oils leech out of the roots (not boiling, but pretty hot), for about 15min or so... I then retrieve the root and mash it more (mortar and pestle), dump it back in, and add the milk and pepper... honey at the end to taste.

[TomSea]

The OD rate in a few states may be higher than car accidents though, like in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.

[TomSea]

Born in UK, was Obama's surgeon general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_Murthy

[Applewood]

Pardon me while I don't give a shit. I'm done with paying for other peoples problems.

In PA the state is spending big bucks on constant propaganda stories about this so-called crisis.  It's a typical Democrats ploy:  Manufacture a crisis, then flush our hard-earned tax dollars down the toilet to supposedly save us.

But here's the kicker :  At the same time, Pennsylvania has legalized "medical" marijuana and is taking steps to make it available to those who need it.  Ok, but I wonder how much of that medicinal marijuana is going to go to some slackers looking for a buzz? 
As we've learned from Prohibition, try as you might, you can't regulate or stamp out something 100%.  If pepole want booze or drugs, they will find a way to get them. 

[Hoodat]

In PA the state is spending big bucks on constant propaganda stories about this so-called crisis.  It's a typical Democrats ploy:  Manufacture a crisis, then flush our hard-earned tax dollars down the toilet to supposedly save us.

As a general rule, any solution that Democrats offer will always make the problem worse.

Democrats have devised a system where the demand for doctors increases and the supply of doctors decreases, leading to more prescriptions being written and less face time with doctors.  Which of course is why Big Pharma played a big role in writing the legislation.

Hence, we have seen a 36% increase in drug overdoses since this Democrat plan has been implemented.