06-28-2017, 01:04 AM
(06-27-2017, 08:19 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: http://www.dailywire.com/news/18009/opioid-crisis-got-worse-thanks-obamacare-aaron-bandler
From the article . . .
Quote:Therefore, repealing Obamacare will be a crucial step in stemming the opioid epidemic.
This is so irritating. The author is taking an apolitical issue, opioid epidemic and drug overdose, and making it a partisan political issue. It's suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch complete bullshit. First of all, the incidence of accidental drug overdose is higher in people with private insurance than the increase shown in the Medicaid expansion states. So maybe we should repeal private insurance? Then people wouldn't have access to health insurance and they wouldn't get prescriptions. Let's take it a step further, deny access to healthcare. Then patients won't get prescriptions at all.
But no one is suggesting that. Why? Because it's f'n stupid. Private insurance isn't the reason for the opioid epidemic any more than Obamacare is. Obamacare didn't force those patients to go to the doctor. Obamacare didn't force the doctors to write those prescriptions. And Obamacare didn't force the pills down their throats.
The problem is the patients, the doctors, and the misuse. Emphasis on the misuse. The inappropriate use of opioids is the main culprit, not the insurance plan of the person misusing the medication.
How do we (providers) know someone is a drug seeker? We usually don't until after we have seen the patient multiple times and they give us reason to suspect misuse. Once you suspect someone is a drug seeker, you have to practically be a detective to gather objective evidence to confirm your suspicion. Georgia didn't get a prescription drug monitoring program until 2013. Before that, I had to have nurses call the major pharmacies to find out their prescription history. But, that is only for Georgia. So we have no idea what patients are getting in other states. Some states don't have monitoring systems at all.
If providers had access to a nationwide drug monitoring program it would go much further toward stemming the opioid epidemic than repealing Obamacare. But, have you heard a single Republican or Democrat suggest such a thing? Hell, no. Did the author mention it? No, because Aaron Bandler is an f'n idiot.
Spotted toad? Really?
It's bad enough I gotta listen to Sessions talk about how dangerous marijuana is when scores of people die each year from legal tobacco, alcohol, and opioids.
