A new study published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment examined federal data on health and drug use among nearly 20,000 people who inject drugs and are low-income in the US, and found no association between Medicaid expansion and misuse of prescription opioids or benzodiazepines, drugs often prescribed for anxiety or insomnia. These findings present real-world data that disprove narratives claiming that Medicaid expansion has fueled the longstanding opioid crisis in America by increasing access to low-cost prescription opioids diverted for non-prescribed use. 

Dental office closures early in the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with a 62-percent increase in the share of emergency department visits from toothaches, abscesses, and other painful dental issues among children covered by Medicaid, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry.

Most people in the United States don’t know that medical aid in dying, a legal practice that allows terminally ill patients to obtain a prescription for medication to end their life, is legal in certain states, according to Rutgers researchers.