Insurers Promise More Cuts in Rx Opioids
By Pat Anson, Editor
Less than two weeks before its final report is due, President Trump’s opioid commission held its fourth and final public meeting Friday – hearing testimony from top government officials and insurance industry executives about the nation’s worsening overdose crisis.
“Insurance companies are going to be a very, very important part of whether we will be able to stem the tide here or whether we’re not,” said commission chairman Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.
It was clear from their testimony that many insurers are planning to tighten access to prescription opioids even more than they already have.
Aetna’s chief medical officer told the commission the insurance giant was planning to reduce “inappropriate opioid prescribing” to its members by 50 percent within the next five years. He did not explain what would be considered inappropriate.
Aetna has already sent warning letters to hundreds of physicians and dentists identified as “super-prescribers,” urging them to reduce the number of opioid prescriptions they write.
“We’re now re-running our analysis and planning more aggressive interventions for those providers who haven’t improved their opioid prescribing habits over the past several months,” said Harold Paz, MD.
The chief medical officer of Cigna said his company was close to achieving a 25 percent reduction in coverage of opioid prescriptions, a priority it set last year.
“That’s only the first of our goals,” said Alan Muney, MD.
Insurer Harvard Pilgrim said its coverage of opioid prescriptions has declined by over 20 percent since 2014.
“That’s not enough. This feels like a balloon where you tap on one end and it comes out somewhere else. So it doesn’t mean we’re even close to solving this,” said Michael Sherman, MD, chief medical officer of Harvard Pilgrim.
Insurers clearly have the ear of the federal government when it comes to opioids. As PNN has reported, an obscure federal advisory group composed of insurers, law enforcement, and federal and state regulators has discussed eliminating opioid prescriptions for acute pain, as well as paying doctors not to prescribe opioids.
The Healthcare Fraud Prevention Partnership also wants access to the “personally identifiable and protected health information” of 57 million Medicare beneficiaries to see if they are abusing opioids.
Reducing Opioids a ‘Win-Win’
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said reducing opioid prescriptions was important to get unemployed Americans back into the workforce. He cited a recent study that found that about a third of unemployed men aged 25 to 54 were using prescription painkillers.
“Reducing the amount of opioids is a win-win across the board. It’s a win for the individual who doesn’t want to get hooked,” Acosta said. “It’s a win for the insurance companies who don’t want to be paying for medicines that people don’t need. And it’s a win for the American workforce, because if we can get people back to work and paying taxes and participating fully, that’s a win for them and it’s a win for the country.”
Acosta cited no studies that might indicate how many Americans currently taking opioids would become unemployed or disabled if their pain medication was reduced or taken away.
No pain patients, patient advocates or experts in pain management were asked to appear before the commission. No one from the pain community has testified during any of the commission’s public meetings, although thousands have submitted written comments.
An interim report released by the opioid commission in July focused on expanding access to addiction treatment and developing new ways of treating pain without opioids. Since then, the commission has increasingly focused on limiting opioid prescriptions. The final report from the commission is expected November 1.
The interim report also strongly urged President Trump to declare a national emergency to speed up efforts to combat the overdose crisis, something he has yet to do. “We’re going to be doing it in the next week,” Trump told reporters on Monday. However, there appears to be little consensus in the administration about what actions to take after an emergency is declared or how to pay for them.
“Everyone wants opioids to be a priority, but there’s a lot of resistance to calling it an emergency,” a senior administration official told Politico.
We have what is INTENTIONALLY UNDER/UNTREATED chronic disease and the insurance companies are looking to reduce the amount of opiates that they pay for by up to 50%, and according to this article … the insurance companies are considering PAYING PRESCRIBERS to NOT PRESCRIBE OPIATES… basically – paying prescriber to DENY CARE to the very patients that are paying those same insurance companies premiums to pay for needed care.
“about a third of unemployed men aged 25 to 54 were using prescription painkillers.”
That above statement suggests that they are targeting men who are receiving monthly workman comp monies. There are no WOMEN in that age group that are taking opiates and unemployed. Has anyone seen this study they are referencing ?
They also want access to the HIPAA protected PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION… so if this happens.. would this suggest that there could be a MAJOR HIPAA VIOLATION by our government and the insurance companies.. Could the very fact that are given access would be UNCONSTITUTIONAL… ACLU where are you ?
Filed under: General Problems
This truly shows how FAR OUT OF TOUCH with reality this so-called human/politician is…The reality is,,if we did not have our MEDICINE we’d be on disabilty,,for our MEDICINE allows less physical pain TOOO FUNCTION DAHHHHHHHHHH.They have look at us all as addicts because of klonodyn slandering/discrediting.the medically ill w/a lie,by a liar,,,that all cpps are addicts..a complete lie,,He has taking medicine backwards to the 1880’s,,WITH HIS BIGOTRY /PREJUDICE OF THE DAYS OF OLD..Like the days of old,,people are being tortured to death by denial of access to effective medical care to lessen physical pain..THESE GUYS ARE SOOOOOOO IGNORANT,,,BUT SOOO FULL OF ARROGANCE,,,,THEIR MURDERING PEOPLE.
God I cannot wait for the day,,when 1 lawyer wakes up and realizes suing the federal government for torture/genocide of the medically ill.,is the humane,ethical,civil right thing to do,legally to save over 10,000 people..Other politicians like this one are the problem,,not the solution..
Also is this ,”thing,politian ” a Doctor??Does she know every single chronic physical pain person medical conditions??To make such a bigotry statement..
I forward a lot of stuff the the aclu every day,,hoping beyond hope,,they will help us some day soon..For this is total civil rights issue,.I saw 1 commentator on another site,,say that the ACLU IS watching the chronic pain issue very closely.Soo keep sending them info,,truthful good info,,every day,,they may choose to help us sooner then later.
We are now view/in writting by our government as drug addicts,unemployed ,sucking off the sytem demon scourge because we are medically ill and take medicine for that medical condition…THATS CRAZY,,, as 1 man once said,,,All mankind is created equal,,We are endowed by our creatore w/certain alienable rights.These right are being violated now for over 5 years,.,”,When any form of Government ,Evinces by design,to reduce it citizens to absolute DESPOTISM, it is our right to alter or abolish it,,”’Their literally torturing the medically ill to death.
These politician know nothing about us,,nothing,,Yet they choose to practice medicine w/out a license,and slander us repeatly by being prejudice onto us.They have created a ,”witch hunt,” onto the medically ill,our doctors,our medicines,the pharmacist,and the manufacturer of our medicines,,,Sorry our medicine doesn’t jump out the bottle into our mouth,,We put it their as responsible ,once free adults.Its time to look in the mirrors for all these so-called addict,,,as to who to blame if u got addicted to a medicine.The reason we give our doctors informed consent,is so we can say NO,, AS ANY TIME!.GETEN OFF TOPIC EH…
THE BOTTUM LINE IS,,THIS POLTICIANS JUST DISCREDITED,SLANDER US AGAIN W/THIS COMMENT..BUT IT SHOWS HOW PREJUDICE,IGNORANT THEY ALL REALLY ARE ,,VIA WILLFULLY CENSORRING US IN EVERY MEETING IN WASHINGTON,.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT,, THANKS TO KLONODYNS LIES,,VIEWS EVERY SINGLE MEDICALLY ILL HUMANBEING WHO USES ANY MEDICINE FROM THE POPPY FLOWER AN ADDICT…IF U WANT ,”ADDICT,” ALL OVER YOUR RECORDS BY SOME INHUMANE LIEFUL DOCTOR,,SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING….IF NOT,,START FIGHTING BACK FOR THE TRUTH TO BE TOLD,,,,FOR IT WILL BE FAR WORSE FOR OUR NEXT GENERATION IF WE DON’T GET THE TRUTH OUT AND STOP THIS BIGOTRY OF THE DAYS OF OLD,,maryw
T
As always…money and power (the power component is the violation of so-called government protected rights to privacy…there’s that pesky Bill of Rights again …of course once even the slightest allowance was made by the State to not protect the Bill of Rights as it was charged to do, the entirety of those 10 Amendments became the Bill of State doled out Privileges…Although I can’t say for sure, I do know that prior to 1861, it seemed to be intact.
The decision by A. Lincoln and his cronies in Congress and the High Court to ignore the 10th and start the War of Northern Aggression (aka the Civil War and I use the other term in the interests of “Truth in Advertising”) using the slavery issue as a prevaricative excuse to go to war as the Southern States decided to exercise their Constitutionally Guaranteed Right to Secede from the Union (the merits of the slave issue were never part of the real reason behind that war kiddies…they don’t teach or discuss that in the public school curriculum anymore, but it’s still in the documents of the period that are still available as the State hasn’t been able to stuff them down the Memory Hole yet, anyway).
I predict that the next gross violation will be all kinds of pee tests to determine if one is opioid free and therefore fit to work…drop a hot urine and lose your job, your professional credentials, etc…the DEA and the ruling plutocratic oligarchy needs more slaves turning the wheels of production to generate taxes to keep the American Dollar Ponzi scheme viable a little bit longer and someone needs to be made an example of through the coercive tactic of fear to get these “Lazy opioid addicts back on the line” and encourage the hesitant to do the same. What’s a little pain, right? just shake it off and serve your master to the fullest or else… you’ll find out what pain is really all about. That’s the new agenda that Big Brother wants all to be clear about.
See, the Civil War wasn’t about freeing black slaves and raising them to the same level of “equality” as the caucasian man…nope…at the end of the day, it was about the making everyone equal with the former status of the slaves as the property of the State Almighty, to be managed like any other resource. With the current economic system we have, this would qualify as fascism.
Sorry if my words are inflammatory and piss off the left-leaning SJW types, but it’s time to put down the glass of the State’s Kool-Aid and wake up to what is happening. This effort to keep the DEA relevant and the State moving forward in shredding personal liberties, that is just another facet on the polished turd known as the War on Drugs, could very well be the turning point that decides if we are free or we end up in chains of servitude and self-determination annihilated by the interests of the State. WAKE UP!!!
Well stated Les Paul1963! It is pretty bad when a bunch of politicians are so smug and so wrong! I haven’t had a severe headache for years but since my medication has been severely reduced (after this month I will no longer be prescribed anything for chronic pain) I am once again fighting a constant unrelenting headache. If opiates don’t work why did I not have one headache for almost ten years but getting them now? Almost everything the government does these days is unconstitutional and illegal but this is unconscionable!
Where is the ACLU?? They have no desire to help the chronic pain patient. They have been contacted previously to no avail!!