PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION –
July 18, 2025 – The Republican tax bill signed into law earlier this month could result in a significant death toll for people seeking treatment for opioid addiction, according to a group of health economics researchers.
Specifically, cuts to Medicaid could result in large numbers of the program’s beneficiaries losing access to medications for opioid use disorder, per the new estimate, which was published by researchers at Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania. “We estimate that the bill will cause approximately 156,000 people to lose access to treatment for opioid use disorder and that the overdose rate among that group will double, leading to approximately 1,000 additional fatal overdoses each year,” reads the policy memo, which was addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).
