Six of every 1,000 Medicare recipients battle opioid addiction, compared to one of every 1,000 Americans with commercial insurance, according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Researchers examined CMS' 2013 Medicare Part D claim data.
Here are five key study findings:
1. More than 300,000 Medicare recipients struggle with opioid addiction.
2. Hospitalizations related to opioid overuse increased 10 percent every year since 1993 to 2012.
3. Physicians prescribed a high amount of opioids to Medicare recipients, but much fewer prescriptions for buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid addiction. For every 40 family physicians who prescribed opioids to Medicare Part D recipients, one prescribed buprenorphine.
4. Medicare Part D only covers buprenorphine and not other opioid abuse treatments, like methodone.
5. Northeastern states — including Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont — had the highest ratio of buprenorphine claims in the U.S.
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