Medicaid expansions linked to slower rises in overdose deaths
The United States in recent years has increased healthcare access by broadening Medicaid coverage, but some worry that these Medicaid expansions lead to more abuse of prescription painkillers and thus worsen the opioid epidemic.
A new study suggests that Medicaid expansions may, in fact, have the opposite effect. In a study examining the potential impact of 2001-02 Medicaid expansions by Arizona, Maine and New York—expansions that occurred just prior to the rise in overdose mortality nationwide—researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine found that from the time of these expansions through 2008, overdose mortality rates (mostly driven by fatal overdoses of opioids) rose significantly less in the expansion states than in non-expansion states. The study is published online this month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
“These findings suggest that Medicaid expansions were unlikely to have contributed to the subsequent rise in drug overdose deaths, and may even have been protective,” said study lead author Atheendar S. Venkataramani,an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the Penn Medicine. “The results should provide reassurance to policymakers who are concerned that state Medicaid expansions, including the recent expansions implemented as part of the Affordable Care Act, promote rises in drug overdose mortality.”
Materials in the Annenberg School for Communication Library Archives include thousands of TV scripts, the first issue of TV Guide, and interviews about the early days of HBO—which help to chronicle TV’s 100-year story.
Centering joy in AI development and implementation
PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton—of Annenberg and SP2—and collaborators introduce a joy-informed framework designed to initiate conversations among engineers, designers, and researchers.
Winter Storm Fern brought icy and snowy conditions to the Northeast and other parts of the country over the weekend. Penn Today asks physicist Robert Carpick about the unique properties of ice, the science of curling, and how close we are to ‘nonslip’ ice.
Organizations like Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships foster collaborations between Penn and public schools in the West Philadelphia community.
Penn receives national distinction for community engagement
The recognition by the American Council on Education and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching acknowledges Penn’s long-standing commitment to community-engaged scholarship and partnerships in West Philadelphia and beyond.
