From the Desk of Bob McNett….
Private Health Insurance Claims for Opioid Addiction and Abuse Have Risen 3,204 Percent Between 2007 and 2014.
A research project by Fair Health, a non-profit that focuses on transparency in health care costs, said in it’s study that “The United States is in the midst of an epidemic of opioid abuse and overdose.”
Health insurance claims for treatment of addiction and overdose of prescription opioid drugs have skyrocketed in recent years.
People becoming addicted to opioids, typically prescribed by doctors to control chronic pain symptoms in their patients, are not the typical crack-house social dropouts that many of us envision as drug abusers.
Many of these are patients with chronic back conditions and other problems that find relief with these opioid pain killers, and then find themselves unable to wean themselves off the drugs.
Such well-known figures as Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk-show host, and Scott Sutton, the former head basketball coach at Oklahoma State, are among former addicted abusers. Both Limbaugh and Sutton became embroiled in schemes to access these drugs through illegal back channels after doctors “cut them off” their regular prescriptions. People who never would have dreamed they would become drug addicts have found themselves desperately seeking further access to these drugs, legally or illegally.
Rampant “doctor-shopping” is being reported, where patients go from doctor to doctor seeking new prescriptions. There have also been reports of patients turning to heroin as a more –available, less-expensive alternative to these opioid prescription drugs.
These drugs can be very effective for chronic pain sufferers, but physicians are becoming more educated in the last few years about the need to use these drugs in a more judicious manner to prevent addiction.
If you are using opioid drugs for pain control, or are prescribed these drugs in the future, be sure your doctor is mindful of the addictive properties of these medications, and select a doctor that will monitor you carefully while on these drugs.
Robert K. McNett, LUTCF
The McNett Agency
918 294 3712 Fax 918 494 6725
Toll Free 1 866 497 7119