Healthcare in the United States has been a topic of debate for decades. From issues regarding an overhaul of healthcare systems to healthcare reform being advocated for from one administration to another and even more importantly affordability of healthcare, the United States government has a lot to do regarding fixing a healthcare system that is broken and even worse, interfered with and marred by political agendas rather than proper policies.
One current significant problem, amid all that, is going wrong; affordability of healthcare, streamlining of healthcare services, private insurance, and tax reform with regard to healthcare, is America’s opioid crisis. Opioids are a class of opium-based drugs used medically for pain relief (Rutkow & Vernick, 2017). They include heroin, oxycodone, morphine and codeine, drugs that are massively abused in the United States. The abuse of opioids has significantly risen with over fifty thousand people dying due to drug overdoses in 2015 with opioids contributing to over two-thirds of that figure. In 2016, the number had increased to over sixty thousand, a figure that has quadrupled since the turn of the century. President Trump, in an address in November 2017, declared America’s opioid epidemic a national public health emergency, with many experts calling it the worst public health crisis in American history.
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So far, there have been no quick fixes with regards to the intervention of the federal government despite the ongoing drumbeat of concern from policymakers and healthcare organizations. One solution to the problem could be an improvement in pain-control options offered by healthcare personnel. This represents a huge problem as over two hundred and sixty million opioid prescriptions were written by doctors in 2012 alone with that number rising till currently especially when illicit drug use is factored in. Alternative pain-control options will thus have to be initiated and integrated into the American healthcare system to reduce the death toll associated with this epidemic. A population health approach is also vital in addressing the problem. This means that all sectors must be involved, from healthcare and education to economic development and housing. The federal and state governments should also ensure that there is equal access to health services to all diverse groups in American society.
The latter solution, a population health approach, would be more effective as it would address the culture of the society and tackle the problem at its root. The majority of opioid abusers are adults, and most of them started abusing these drugs from having experienced adverse childhood circumstances and events that made them more vulnerable or susceptible to substance abuse from then on or later in life. Therefore, poverty and unemployment must be addressed by President Trump’s administration by creating equal economic opportunities to all Americans thus eradicating a state of despair and hopelessness which is a leading cause of substance abuse.
The federal government has a huge responsibility. From tax reform to repealing Obamacare, a lot of its policies will have to be meticulously devised as something such as tax reform has a monumental impact on the opioid crisis. This is because the more the middle class and the working class pay in taxes due to lower tax cuts the more incapable they become to address certain health issues that they encounter. State governments have to implore doctors working within the state to reign in the over-prescribing of opioid medication as well as extra work to local law enforcement to root out drug dens and peddlers in order to reduce illicit drug use (Pauly & Field, 2018). State and local funding should also be prioritized to initiate programs to educate the public on the health effects of opioids as well as to rehabilitate opioid addicts. In any case, especially with the current government shutdown, a significant amount of funds must be allocated to deal with this epidemic.
References
Pauly, M., & Field, R. (2018). Beyond Obamacare: What’s Ahead for U.S. Health Care in 2018 . Wharton's Mark Pauly and Drexel's Robert Field discuss what's ahead for U.S. health care in 2018. Audio Player . Retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-future-of-the-aca/
Rutkow, L., & Vernick, J. (2017). Emergency Legal Authority and the Opioid Crisis. New England Journal of Medicine , 377 (26), 2512-2514. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/nejmp1710862
