Tag: substance use disorder

Searching for a New Normal: How Expiration of the Federal Public Health Emergency Impacts Access to Health Care Services

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After more than three years, the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is set to expire on May 11, 2023. Once the PHE designation is lifted, a number of federal policies intended to help the U.S. health care system adapt to the pandemic will also expire. CHIR’s Emma Walsh-Alker reviews selected policies tied to the PHE and evaluates how the impending expiration will impact consumers’ access to services.

January Research Roundup: What We’re Reading

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Welcome to another year of health policy research. In the first month of 2023, CHIR reviewed studies on how policies expanding health coverage would impact household spending, surprise medical bills generated by ground ambulance rides, and health care costs associated with substance use disorders.

Amidst Rising Overdose Deaths, Policymakers Look for Ways to Expand Access to Proven Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

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As the number of opioid-related overdose fatalities remains alarmingly high, access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is inconsistent. Private insurance does not always cover the full range of MAT options, and when it does provide coverage cost sharing can be prohibitive. CHIR’s Rachel Swindle takes a look at state and federal reforms that can help lessen private insurance related barriers to treatment.

Congress, Administration Work to Meet Growing Need for Behavioral Health Care

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The need for mental health and substance use disorder services is substantial and growing. One in five adults in the United States, or 53 million people, had a mental illness in 2020, including 14 million adults who had serious mental illness; forty million adults had a substance use disorder. In response to these troubling trends, policymakers are seeking multi-pronged approaches to provide greater access to services that treat and manage mental health and substance use disorders. CHIR’s JoAnn Volk outlines how both Congress and the Biden administration plan to improve access to behavioral health care.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the individual blog post authors and do not represent the views of Georgetown University, the Center on Health Insurance Reforms, any organization that the author is affiliated with, or the opinions of any other author who publishes on this blog.