Res. No. 479
Title
Resolution calling on the United States Congress to pass, and the President to sign, H.R. 5799 and H.R. 5808 to combat the opioid crisis specifically for those with Medicaid coverage.
Body
By Council Member Holden
Whereas, Opioid abuse and death are at epidemic levels in the United States (U.S.), and, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly 64,000 people died of drug overdoses in America in 2016; and
Whereas, According to New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), every 7 hours someone in New York City dies from a drug overdose, and an estimated 1,441 people died in New York City from drug overdose in 2017, surpassing the number of overdose deaths in 2016; and
Whereas, According to the City of New York Office of the Mayor, of the people in New York City who died of a drug overdose in 2016, an estimated 80 percent involved an opioid, and, of that 80 percent, 18 percent involved prescription opioid painkillers; and
Whereas, According to the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Payment and Access Commission (MacPAC), the opioid epidemic disproportionately affects individuals with Medicaid, and Medicaid beneficiaries are prescribed pain relievers at higher rates than those with other sources of insurance; and
Whereas, According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicaid covers 4 in 10 nonelderly adults with opioid addiction, and, as of March 2018, nearly 6.5 million New Yorkers are enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and
Whereas, Medicaid beneficiaries age 18 to 64 have a higher rate of opioid use disorder than privately insured individuals, comprising about one-quarter of those with an opioid use disorder; and
Whereas, In 2016, nonelderly adults with Medicaid were twice as likely as those with private insurance or no insurance to have received opioid addiction treatment, and Medicaid expansion, which has occurre...
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