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Medicare Enabling Prescription Drug Abuse

The New York Times recently reported that Medicare is subsidizing drug abuse through allowing benefit receivers to search out doctors who will fill their prescriptions for large amounts of painkillers and narcotics.  Congress says that this practice far  exceeds what any patient could safely use.  The General Accounting Office reported that 170,000 Medicare beneficiaries received prescriptions from 5 or more doctors for 14 types of drugs that are frequently abused.

The report states that the most commonly abused drugs by medicare recipients include the painkillers Oxcycodone and Hydrocodone (OxyContin and Percoset)

Case Study:

Georgia - a beneficiary received a 150 day supply of oxycodone in just 27 days by obtaining 7 different prescriptions from 4 different doctors.

California - a California man received over 1,300 fentaynyl patches and pills from 21 different prescribers in one year.

Texas - a beneficiary received prescriptions for over 4,500 hydrocodone pills from 25 different doctors.
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