Kentucky Won't Support Drug Addiction Counseling
When an individual needs to be treated for an addiction, only delivering half of the necessary treatment and expecting that individual to recover seems cruel. Yet, according to a KY Post report, this is exactly what is happening in the state of Kentucky.
The state appears to be spending millions of Medicaid dollars on prescription drugs that are used to help people with drug addictions. At the same time, the state refuses to pay for the counseling these addicts need to successfully complete their treatment.
Kentucky has a $5.5 billion-per-year Medicaid program, but that is not enough to cover the cost of counseling for addiction. In fact, this budget is really just to cover the poor and disabled.
The cost of counseling combined with the prescription medications can drain the state's budget rapidly. For instance, Suboxone, a narcotic that is used to help addicts to ease drug cravings, taxed the cash-strapped program by as much as $11 million last year.
It doesn’t help those arguing for the program that the narcotic is often seen on the street. In fact, according to a spokesman for Operation UNITE, a federally funded drug enforcement and education agency, a single Suboxone tablet will cost the state $7.50, yet it is sold illegally on the street for about $20.
The challenge in the state, and in all the others, is that the individual with a serious opiate addiction needs more than just a pill to get through the addiction. This is not just a medication issue, it should be a full treatment issue.
