Medicaid limits access to life-saving doses of addiction care - Roll Call

Consensus is growing around the idea that for some patients higher doses of a gold-standard opioid addiction treatment drug may be better than lower doses at keeping patients healthy and in treatment, especially for those who use fentanyl.

But whether someone can access higher doses of buprenorphine — which works by curbing cravings and withdrawal from opioids — depends on where they live.  

In most states, Medicaid — the largest payer of substance use disorder treatment in the U.S. — caps the doses it will pay for at arbitrary levels, typically at no more than 24 milligrams.