“Health care claims for people with opioid dependence diagnoses rose more than 3,000 percent between 2007 and 2014, according to an analysis of insurance records.
The findings illustrate that the opioid problem is “in the general mainstream,” says Robin Gelburd, president of Fair Health, a nonprofit that analyzes health care costs and conducted the study.
Younger patients ages 19 to 35 were most likely to be diagnosed as opioid dependent. Those younger patients were also more likely than older ones to overdose on heroin. The reverse was true for overdoses related to other types of opioids, which were more common in people in their mid-40s to mid-50s.
The number of medical services such as office visits and lab tests for patients with a dependency diagnosis rose from about 217,000 in 2007 to about 7 million in 2014.”
Read more at: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/01/487940139/many-more-people-are-seeking-medical-help-for-opioid-abuse
Source: NPR.org – August 1, 2016
