Indiana to start covering methadone treatment for Medicaid recipients
In an attempt to help more people with drug addictions, the state will begin covering methadone treatment for people on Medicaid and has added five centers to its stable of treatment providers, Indiana officials announced Wednesday.
Gov. Eric Holcomb welcomed the moves at a news conference Wednesday at Valle Vista Health System in Greenwood, one of the new sites, saying that addressing Indiana's opioid problems is one of his top goals as governor.
“This is going to lead to lives being brought back,” he said, noting the number of drug overdose deaths has increased 500 percent in 17 years, and the numbers continue to rise. “If I could only accomplish but one thing in my time, it would be to bend that trajectory, to bend that arc down on the course that we’re currently on.”
Indiana has not covered methadone, an early form of so-called medication-assisted treatment that aims to help people who use drugs wean from the habit. The decision not to do so likely stemmed from the perception that methadone use is trading one addiction for another, said Dr. Jennifer Walthall, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, which oversees Medicaid.
Read more: http://www.jconline.com/story/news/2017/07/05/indiana-expand-treatment-opioid-addictions/448920001/
