The Congressional Budget Office released its assessment of the House's opioid bill Sept. 28.
Here are three things to know:
1. Inpatient behavioral hospitals would receive more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments from 2020-23 for patients with opioid use disorder, increasing revenues for companies like King of Prussia, PA-based Universal Health Services and Burlington, Mass.-based.
2. The bill would also require insurers to spend at least 85 percent of state Medicaid revenue on medical care. If they fail to meet this requirement, insurers would have to refund the difference back to the states. The CBO estimates insurers would pay back $2.7 billion over the next 10 years through this requirement.
3. This provision will hurt large Medicaid insurers like St. Louis-based Centene, Long Beach, Calif.-based Molina Healthcare, Tampa, Fla.-based WellCare Health Plans and Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group.
To view a full breakdown of the CBO's estimates, click here.
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