GUEST VOICES: 2020 Fails to Supply the Demand for Opioid Treatment

By Ramón Castellblanch, PhD

The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated the opioid epidemic, both in terms of supply and demand. In terms of the supply, we took a terrible hit in the number of programs to fight it. As of September, their revenues were down by over 20%. With those losses, more than half of these programs were not sure that they’d still be operating this spring.

At the same time, demand for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment skyrocketed under the COVID-19 pandemic. For the last three quarters reported, California’s opioid dashboard shows that opioid overdose deaths rose from 882 in the final quarter of 2019 to 1,255 in the second quarter of 2020, an increase of over 40%.

On the bright side, the state of California took some serious steps toward addressing the crisis. Its most notable achievement was in the area of funding SUD treatment. The enactment of SB 855 means that private insurers must cover it. At this beginning of this year, the state Department of Managed Health Care has directed the insurers to submit forms documenting their compliance by February 1.

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