Press Release  AG Healey Joins Coalition in Fight Against Opioid Incentives

Boston — As part of her ongoing commitment to addressing the opioid epidemic, Attorney General Maura Healey today joined a bipartisan coalition of 37 states and territories urging national health insurance companies to examine their payment and coverage policies that contribute to the over-prescription of opioids.

Describing the opioid epidemic as “the preeminent public health crisis of our time,” the 37 attorneys general will send a letter to industry trade groups and major insurance providers nationwide urging insurers to review their coverage and payment policies and revise them to encourage healthcare providers to prioritize non-opioid pain management options over opioid prescriptions for the treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain.

“Unless insurance companies make non-opioid pain management available, we will continue to put millions of Americans in harm’s way,” said AG Healey. “We need to end incentives that pump painkillers into communities and focus on treatments that will keep people safe.”

“We have witnessed firsthand the devastation that the opioid epidemic has wrought on our States in terms of lives lost and the costs it has imposed on our healthcare system and the broader economy,” AG Healey joined the coalition in writing. “As the chief legal officers of our States, we are committed to using all tools at our disposal to combat this epidemic and to protect patients suffering from chronic pain or addiction.”

The attorneys general, in acknowledging the important role insurance companies play in reducing opioid prescriptions, contend that incentives that promote use of non-opioid techniques will increase the practicality of medical providers considering such treatments, including physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care and non-opioid medications.

Increased reliance on these alternatives will reduce the over-prescription of opioid painkillers – a significant factor contributing to the epidemic. The letter  notes the number of opioid prescriptions have quadrupled since 1999, despite Americans reporting a steady amount of pain.

In Massachusetts, opioid overdoses kill on average more than five people every day. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) estimates that more than 2,000 people – the highest number ever recorded in the state and a 17 percent increase from 2015 – died from opioid-related overdoses in 2016. Massachusetts has lost over 5,000 people to opioid overdoses in the last three years.

AG Healey’s leadership in joining this coalition is another way her office is working to address the addiction crisis in Massachusetts. AG Healey and the GE Foundation announced a $2 million public-private initiative – named Project Here – that this fall will bring substance use prevention resources to students in every public middle school in Massachusetts to help address the opioid epidemic.

This past spring, the AG’s Office distributed $700,000 in settlement funding directly to school districts, nonprofits and community organizations to fund prevention programming through its Youth Opioid Prevention Grant Program. 

AG Healey recently announced that her office is committing a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to a new Fentanyl Strike Force. In partnership with the Massachusetts State Police, the task force will target heroin and fentanyl traffickers and dismantle their distribution networks across Massachusetts. The funds will expand the AG’s Office’s own drug enforcement work – which has increased sixfold since 2015 – and to build enhanced partnerships with federal, state, and local law enforcement.

The AG’s Office also worked with the Legislature and DPH to create a state fund that allows our cities and towns to buy Narcan at a heavily discounted price, and is working to keep it as a resource for as long as it is needed.

The AG’s Office continues to examine a host of other activities and practices that contribute to the opioid crisis, from criminal drug trafficking to barriers to substance use treatment.

Other attorneys general signing-on to today’s letter include those of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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