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. 2024 Nov;33(11):2439-2449.
doi: 10.1002/hec.4886. Epub 2024 Aug 5.

Medicaid expansion and opioid prescriptions: Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

Chandler McClellan  1 , Asako Moriya  1
Affiliations

Medicaid expansion and opioid prescriptions: Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

Chandler McClellan et al. Health Econ. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

Evidence is mixed on whether increased access to insurance, specifically through the ACA's Medicaid expansion, exacerbated the opioid public health crisis through increased opioid prescribing. Using survey data on retail prescription drug fills from 2008 to 2019, we did not find a significant relationship between Medicaid expansion and opioid prescribing in the newly eligible Medicaid population. It may be that the dangers of opioids were known well enough by the time of the Medicaid expansion that lack of access to care was no longer a binding constraint on opioid prescription receipt.

Keywords: Medicaid expansion; health reform; opioid epidemic; opioid prescriptions.

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References

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