Opioids Dull Parents’ Instinct To Find Babies Irresistible

Recently, a number of incidents have shifted the focus to the toll the crisis is taking on the children of those with an addiction. So researchers looked at why parenting skills seem to be affected by opioids.

The New York Times: Opioids May Interfere With Parenting Instincts, Study Finds

Some of the most troubling images of the opioid crisis involve parents buying or using drugs with their children in tow. Now new research offers a glimpse into the addicted brain, finding that the drugs appear to blunt a person’s natural parenting instincts. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania scanned the brains of 47 men and women before and after they underwent treatment for opioid dependence. (de la Cruz, 10/13)

In other news about the epidemic —

Stateline: Diverse Medicaid Rules Hurt In Fighting Addiction

The Affordable Care Act required Medicaid, the joint state-federal health program for the poor, to start paying for all available substance abuse treatments in 2014, a provision seen as a boon for low-income people who previously were not covered for addiction treatment. But Medicaid coverage of the most widely used opioid addiction medication, buprenorphine, varies widely among states. Many doctors don’t want to treat Medicaid patients for addiction. And red tape can make it difficult for many Medicaid recipients with addictions to get effective treatment. (Vestal, 10/14)

The Baltimore Sun: As Heroin Epidemic Grows In Howard County, Treatment Lags

In Howard, the resources for long-term treatment and recovery, part of a state-led fight against the epidemic, are only just catching up. Unlike neighboring jurisdictions, the county has no residential detox facility. Although the county has multiple treatment facilities, the county's only outpatient clinic for Medicaid and uninsured recipients who have substance-abuse disorders is closing at the end of the year after the grant that operates it expires. The clinic serves about 750 people per year. (Waseem, 10/13)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription