The methadone audit: Kick this habit

This comes from the TRIBLIVE online newspaper out of Pennsylvania.

The methadone audit: Kick this habit


An audit of Pennsylvania's taxpayer-funded methadone "fix" for people on public assistance reveals the scope of an expensive addiction -- more than $80 million in 2009 -- but not its cure.

To wit -- weaning thousands of opiate addicts off government's heroin.

At least the cost of transporting methadone "clients" -- who previously had no travel restrictions -- has been reduced by $1.3 million; transportation subsidies now only cover rides to the closest or next closest clinic.

This, after state Sen Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, focused some much-needed attention on Pennsylvania's methadone-treatment costs.

The resulting audit found that Medicaid clients on average remain on methadone for 27.3 months. The duration could be considerably longer, as it's based on responses from only 33 of the state's 61 methadone clinics.

So, the question remains: How many "clients" among the state's almost 19,000 methadone recipients are simply trading one addiction for another on the taxpayer's dime when, as Mrs. Ward points out, money for other public assistance programs, such as food banks, is being cut?

The state audit provides lawmakers with enough information to finally address the methadone monkey that's been residing quite comfortably on taxpayers' backs.


original link:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_723619.html#ixzz1EbrHtLgx