Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Profit Mining The Opioid Crisis: The Dark Underbelly Of Lucrative Addiction Treatment Industry
With drug abuse rising, an array of companies have found new ways to turn the problems of addicts into billable fortunes. And few are as profitable as those focused on the lowliest byproduct of any stint in rehab: urine. Testing has long been part of recovery, a way for clinics to ensure that patients are staying clean. But starting in 2010, as opioid abuse evolved into a crisis and the Affordable Care Act offered insurance to millions more young people, the cost of urinalysis tests soared. It was soon common for clinics and labs to charge more than $4,000 per test, and to test clients two or three times a week. (Segal, 12/27)
Earlier, related KHN coverage:聽Liquid Gold: Pain Doctors Soak Up Profits By Screening Urine For Drugs聽(Schulte and Lucas, 11/6)
On the last day of his life, Gary Benefield expressed hope for the future. He was finally about to 鈥済et right,鈥 he said. A Harley-riding tough guy and retired utility worker, Mr. Benefield had let addiction get the better of him. He was downing a dozen Budweisers a day and smoking nonstop, despite needing an oxygen tank to breathe. But that July day in 2010, he was headed to A Better Tomorrow, a California treatment center promising 24-hour care while he got sober. (Corkery and Silver-Greenberg, 12/27)
It first dawned on Erin Burk that her town had become a haven for drug treatment soon after she noticed the fleet of white vans zooming through her neighborhood. The vans, she learned after tailing one, were ferrying addicts all over town to what amounted to halfway houses for those in recovery: sober living homes. Nobody she asked seemed to know how many sober living homes were located in Prescott, so she decided to conduct an improvised census. (Segal, 12/27)
More than 200,000 people seek addiction treatment on the phone or online every month. Few of them realize that their pleas for help are a valuable commodity 鈥 one that is quietly fought over by those angling to turn a distress signal into cash. Addicts represent big money to treatment centers, which are happy to pay a middleman $50 for a 鈥渓ead鈥 on a patient who might generate $40,000 or more in insurance claims in a matter of months. That is why television ads offering help to addicts air constantly nationwide. (Segal, 12/27)
