Substance Abuse And The United States

The United States currently faces an unprecedented epidemic of opioid addiction. This includes painkillers, heroin, and other drugs made from the same base chemical. In the couple of years, approximately one out of twenty Americans reported misuse or abuse of prescriptions painkillers. Heroin abuse and overdoses are on the rise and are the leading cause of injury deaths, surpassing car accidents and gun shots. The current problem differs from the opioid addiction outbreaks of the past in that it is also predominant in the middle and affluent classes. Ultimately, anyone can be fighting a battle with addiction and it is important for family members and loved ones to know the signs. The cause for this epidemic is that the current spike of opioid abuse can be traced to two decades of increased prescription rates for painkillers by well-meaning physicians.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a United States federal statute that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. This particular law has come with much controversy. The law (along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress. PPACA reforms certain aspects of the private health insurance industry and public health insurance programs, increases insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions, expands access to insurance to over 30 million Americans, and increases projected national medical spending while lowering projected Medicare spending.

The state of Massachusetts has been fighting a vicious battle with the spread of opioid addiction. Heroin and other opioid drug related addicts have formed a very negative outlook of themselves. A great deal of people view addicts as classic criminals. Addiction is an actual mental illness, something that the addict cannot control. Treating these struggling individuals as criminals is an unnecessary and cruel punishment. The state of Massachusetts needs to break the stigma that all opioid addicts are criminals and starting viewing opioid addiction as a serious mental illness.

Opioid addiction is a condition that is preventable as well as one which individuals display several noticeable risk factors before the actual addiction prognosis to the point of causing death. There is a strong correlation between the early misuse of prescription opioids, which are prescribed for non-cancer pain management, and the development of a dependence on such opioids. Early detection of risk factors such as the misuse of opioids that are prescribed will help indicate that a patient is developing an addiction.1 Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers must closely monitor patients and the rate at which opioids are consumed as well as refilled.

Opioids, otherwise known as prescription pain medication, are used to treat acute and chronic pain. They are the most powerful pain relievers known. When taken as directed they can be safe and effective at managing pain, however, opioids can be highly addictive. Ease of access helps people get pain medications through their physician or by having friends and family get the medication for them. With their ease of access and being highly addictive the use and misuse of opioids have become a growing epidemic. Patients should be well educated on the affects opioid use can have. More importantly instead of the use of opioids, physicians should look into alternative solutions for pain management. While pain medication is helpful with chronic pain, it is also highly addictive, doctors should be more stringent to whom and how often they prescribe pain medication.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama, on March 23rd, 2010 (Buppert, 2015). This historic piece of health care reform legislation is scheduled for implementation over a four-year period. The legislation was created to make sure that all American residents have access to quality, affordable health care and will create the transformation within the health care system necessary to contain costs (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, n.d.). There are nine primary components for this reform. These include: affordable health

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act offers many healthcare benefits to a diverse group of American citizens. However, there are a few downsides as well. The major portions of the act deal with four primary issues:

Within the PPACA legislation, there are provisions that create health insurance exchanges to be accessed by uninsured individuals. PPACA envisioned this access to health exchanges providing early detection and treatment, thus bending the healthcare cost curve (Dixon, 2014). Since national health reform had failed in the past, PPACA intentionally chose a national health care model that included health care exchanges that would be primarily managed by the states (Sirpal, 2014). After the forceful United States Supreme Court decision in 2010, states were given a choice whether to establish health care exchanges (Sirpal, 2014). Since 2014, the White House (2015) believes that a total of approximately nineteen million people have enrolled in the

It has been almost six years since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was enacted. Before the ObamaCare Act many people living in the United States didn’t have health insurance. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act include a long list of health-related provisions. Additionally, it supposed to extend coverage health insurance to many uninsured Americans (Obamacare, Web).

The opioid war can be resolved through the combination of counseling and extended addiction services for individual treatment plans. The program at Center for Behavioral Health Elizabethtown provides counseling and intensive therapy both during the addiction process and for up to a year for all patients after leaving the program (Zsigray 4). The treatment of the addict, and the mental illness and emotional disorders attached to addiction, can fix the epidemic. Patients who treat the addiction by use of corrective therapy are more likely to stay clean than patients who do not (Zsigray 3). Therapy and counseling are a vital part of the recovery process.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (PPACA) is federal legislation designed to increase the rate of health insurance coverage and reduce the overall costs of healthcare. Along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act it represents the most significant government expansion and regulatory overhaul of the U.S. Healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 (Vicni & Stempel, 2012).

In and around most large cities in America, the rising substance abuse epidemic has brought about a renewed interested in determining the root cause of substance abuse, the effects of substance abuse on individuals and societies, and the substance abuse treatment modalities that achieve the best outcomes. In reviewing the current research on substance abuse there seems to be no one clear cause of substance abuse disorders, although there is strong evidence that a number of life circumstances may predispose an individual to a substance abuse disorder, as well as a number of protective factors that may reduce an individual’s risk of developing a substance abuse disorder. One important risk factor that is commonly associated with substance

The decades-old United States war on drugs has not been successful and very cost ineffective (Madden, 2008). Today, drug addiction continues to be an important public health problem in our nation. The U.S. spends more than $700 billion dollars annually in costs related to substance abuse (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA], 2015). Drug-related costs include abuse of tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs, crime, lost work productivity, and health care (NIDA, 2015). And the costs corresponding to those whose lives are ruined or whose death is premature, are too immense to be measured. Collateral damage such as that of family members who have to endure witnessing these experiences is not just unfortunate; it is also priceless. Treatment programs for drug addiction are available, and psychosocial approaches have demonstrated to be better than no-treatment controls (Madden, 2008; Silverman, Roll, & Higgins, 2008). Unfortunately, currently available treatment programs are not effective in all individuals, and high relapse rates are typical (Silverman et al., 2008). Considering the immense impact drug addiction has on individuals as well as society, the development of a treatment program that produces long-term abstinence outcomes is of paramount importance.

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and on March 30, 2010 the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act provided provisions to the PPACA. The laws focus on reform of the private health insurance market, provide better coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, improve prescription drug coverage in Medicare and extend the life of the Medicare Trust fund by at least 12 years (Washington). There are a number of provisions in the PPACA Act that will impact the accounting for many companies. Among those provisions are the following (US):

In the United states, drug abuse policies have been trying to fight issues such as driving while under the influence of drugs, and individuals who abuse prescription drugs. These drug abuse policies in the United States are trying to help prevent drug abuse and even educate the public about what are the consequences of the use of drugs and sales.