| Welcome to Overnight Health Care. It's almost Friday, and we've got you covered with all the opioid news that happened in the last 24 hours (Spoiler: there's a lot). The nation's top doctor issued the first public health advisory in over a dozen years in an effort to combat the thousands of opioid overdose deaths occurring each year. Surgeon General Jerome Adams called on more Americans to carry a potentially life-saving medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. "Each day we lose 115 Americans to an opioid overdose -- that's one person every 12.5 minutes," Adams said in a statement. "It is time to make sure more people have access to this lifesaving medication, because 77 percent of opioid overdose deaths occur outside of a medical setting and more than half occur at home." The takeaway... Many first responders, like police and EMTs, carry the medication, naloxone. But Adams wants to ensure more of the public, especially friends and family of those at risk of an overdose, keep it on hand, with more Americans are dying from opioid overdoses than car accidents each year. Read more here. CVS is trying to make it easier for the uninsured to get overdose drug. Piggybacking off of the surgeon general's advisory, CVS on Thursday said it will offer a discount on Narcan, a nasal spray version of naloxone, to uninsured customers. CVS said the discount will come in the form of a manufacturer's coupon, and will reduce the cost to $94.99, which is the lowest price available for people without insurance. The list price for a carton containing two nasal sprays is $125, which doesn't include rebates or other discounts. CVS also said its pharmacists will work to educate patients about the availability and importance of naloxone. The big picture... Drug companies have come under fire for the rising price of naloxone, but the price of Narcan has stayed consistent since it came onto the market in 2015. Read more here. In other opioid news, the cost of treating addiction has soared dramatically over the last 13 years. That's according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The numbers: - In 2016, people with health coverage through their employer received $2.6 billion in opioid treatment services.
- In 2004, that number was $273 million.
The cost of inpatient treatment also increased dramatically. - In 2016, the price tag was $16,104.
- In 2004, that number was $5,809.
Read more here. Medicaid funds for fighting opioids? After a year of talking about spending less on Medicaid, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a proposal to spend more in one area: treating opioid abuse. The proposal could be one of the more significant and costly steps that Congress takes to fight the opioid epidemic, but there are concerns about how to pay for it. Members of both parties have called for lifting limits on Medicaid paying for treatment at facilities with more than 16 beds, saying they are a major barrier to care. The summary of a bill unveiled Wednesday night would lift those limits specifically if the care is for substance abuse treatment and lasts less than 90 days. But there are areas of contention: Democrats are worried that the new spending on the bill would have to be offset, which could lead to cuts elsewhere that they find harmful. The timeline... Lawmakers are working on a package of opioid bills that could reach the House floor by Memorial Day. Read more here. Two employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are no longer with the agency after the tumultuous rollout of a family planning program. Cathy Deeds and Mary Vigil, who were both senior advisers at the Office of Population Affairs (OPA), are no longer employed by HHS, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday. OPA runs the Title X grant program, the only federal program that focuses solely on funding family planning services, like birth control and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, for low-income women and men. It's unclear when they left, or why, but their departures follow the January exit of Teresa Manning, the former deputy assistant secretary of the OPA. What we know... Deeds and Vigil came from conservative, anti-abortion rights backgrounds. What we don't know... It's not clear if Deeds and Virgil resigned or were fired. An HHS spokesperson said they have nothing further to add "at this time." Read more here. A sad ending to a mysterious disappearance. The body of Timothy Cunningham, a researcher from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was pulled from a river in Atlanta, police said Thursday, nearly two months after he mysteriously went missing. Police officials said it appeared that Cunningham drowned, and emphasized there was no evidence of foul play. The Fulton County medical examiner said the body's decomposition was consistent with the timing of Cunningham's disappearance on Feb. 12. It was a strange saga. Cunningham vanished after telling colleagues at CDC headquarters he was not feeling well. According to the Atlanta Police Department, he had recently spoken to a supervisor about why he was passed over for a promotion. The CDC denied that report, but Atlanta police stood by its statement. Police had previously located Cunningham's keys, cellphone, credit cards, debit cards, wallet and passports. Read more here. What we're reading Under Trump, an office meant to help refugees enters the abortion wars (The New York Times) After one year of Trump, ObamaCare is actually doing fine (Vox) With the drug industry as its partner, an addiction policy group invites tough questions (Stat) State by state Report: Massachusetts spent $59B on health care in 2016 (MassLive) Maryland governor signs bills to help stabilize health care (The Associated Press) Vermont state employees to see changes to health care plans (The Associated Press)
From The Hill's opinion page Speculative lawsuits aren't the cure for opioid addiction Democrats plan to savage America once again with ObamaCare's individual mandate | 
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