ABETTING DRUG TRADE

Medicaid Should Treat Not Subsidize Addicts

Of all the culprits in Kentucky's prescription drug scourge, the one you
might least expect is government. Yet taxpayers have become unwitting
suppliers of illicit pills through the Medicaid program.

This is not new. But in recent years the black market in prescription
narcotics has mushroomed into a full-blown crisis of crime, addiction and
death. And still there's little or nothing that can be done to cut off
abusers from their Medicaid pipeline.

The federal government should change that by enabling Kentucky and other
states to bar from Medicaid those who sell their prescriptions. At the very
least, their access to prescription narcotics and other popular street
drugs should be restricted.

As it now stands, the state can't withhold Medicaid even from someone who
has been convicted in state court of illegally peddling drugs paid for by
the program.

Taxpayers shouldn't have to put up with that kind of abuse of a program
intended for the poor, elderly and disabled, even if kicking out abusers
doesn't make a big dent in the overall drug problem.

Continuing to fuel the prescription drug plague through Medicaid sends a
terrible message, especially when the program is doing so little to cure
the addictions it is subsidizing.

Unlike 29 other states, Kentucky does not generally pay for drug treatment
for adult addicts who qualify for Medicaid, a program that now includes
672,000 Kentuckians.

Instead of paying for addiction treatment though Medicaid, the state
operates regional treatment centers that are swamped with patients who may
have to wait months to get in.

By taking this approach, Kentucky forfeits the considerable federal funding
that would come its way for treating addiction if Medicaid included a
treatment benefit. Every $1 spent by Kentucky for addiction treatment would
bring in $3 from the feds.

But Medicaid is an entitlement, meaning treatment for addiction would have
to be provided to any Medicaid recipient who needed it. And, through the
years, Kentucky's governors and lawmakers apparently have decided the state
cannot afford to treat all its addicts.

This is the height of false economy. As staff writer Bill Estep reported
Sunday, those on the front lines -- prosecutors and police -- see the need
for treatment more clearly than anyone.

Commonwealth's Attorney Allen Trimble of Whitley and McCreary counties says
a Medicaid substance abuse benefit would "pay for itself.'' And he's right.

Enforcement and education are vital components of combating the drug
plague. But unless Kentucky can marshall the will and resources to treat
addiction, it might as well surrender in the war on drugs.