Advocates Blast RI House of Reps. for Introduction of Opioid Stewardship Act
GoLocalProv News Team
Advocates Blast RI House of Reps. for Introduction of Opioid Stewardship Act
The act would impose financial penalties on prescription opioid medications.
“Opioid medications, while controversial, serve a very real and legitimate purpose when caring for patients, especially in the surgical field. No matter the target, imposing any increased costs on these commonly-used medications would undoubtedly burden our state’s patient community with higher healthcare and medication expenses. This is an unacceptable consequence, and lawmakers must reject the Opioid Stewardship Act,” said Skoly, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon based in Cranston.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPatricia Weltin, a rare disease advocate with Beyond the Diagnosis added, “Patients with rare, chronic conditions have limited treatment options as it is, and government regulations in response to the opioid epidemic have made it increasingly difficult for legitimate pain patients to access their prescribed medications. Deliberately increasing the costs of these medications could disproportionately impact patients managing rare, chronic, and otherwise debilitating diseases who rely on opioid-based pain management therapies to function.”
The Legislation
The Opioid Stewardship Act, being considered by both legislative chambers, proposes an annual $7.5 million excise tax on prescription opioid medications.
The revenue raised from the tax is intended to fund programs that would fight the opioid crisis in Rhode Island.
Each bill assumes that prescription opioid manufacturers and distributors would pay for the tax.
However, because the legislation is modeled after a similar bill in New York, which was met with considerable opposition from prominent advocacy organizations, healthcare professionals, and patients, patients across the state of Rhode Island are encouraging lawmakers to avoid mimicking a tax-based response to the opioid epidemic.
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