I have to agree with most of the other thoughts shared in here about the response to the opioid issue. For a problem with so many actors involved (patients, clinicians, industry/Pharma, insurance companies), and at such scale? Strategy, coordinatian, enforcement was definitely weak out the gate.

I do understand how this must frustrate lawmakers (judging from the appropriation hearings, anyway) because theyve been throwing money at this shit.

But honestly there probably should have been some kind of joint public-private task force set up from jump, to make sure all the different sub-problems would be addressed appropriately and synchronized in the right fashion. Like any related government agency, any related medical association, pharmaceutical industry representation, insurance industry representation, patient groups, etc.

For example.. The CDC issued prescription guidelines earlier this year, but it's like..shouldn't tighter oversight over the prescription of highly addictive/potent patient drugs be a mandate all the time,across the board, not just after millions of Americans have died?? Or, congress pumping money into R&D, funding development of timed-release pain med formulations..only to find out that doctors were still prescribing regular old opioid formulations at similar rates as before. Why? Well because it turns out pharmaceutical companies like to make fancy new drug formulations expensive lol (them having a bottom line to consider and all), and insurance companies were deciding not to cover fancy safer pain meds when they could just cover older cheaper formulations that produce the same patient outcome (them having a bottom line to consider and all).

Nonsensical roundabout stuff like that kind of suggests a full gamut of stakeholders wasn't involved in strategizing a response from the beginning. And now the government is frustrated by what patients have known for a long time - that the health system has way too many loopholes for private interests to be put first instead of patients.