Seniors deserve a choice when it comes to pain management

Guest Column | Teresa Horton

As the opioid crisis continues to devastate lives, it’s crucial to continually reassess which treatments and health care strategies best serve patients. Many of us have personally felt the impact or witnessed someone close to us struggle with opioid abuse, highlighting just how widespread the problem is.

The data is sobering: according to the CDC's 2022 report, in the United States there were 37.1 retail pharmacy-dispensed opioid prescriptions for every 100 people. That number is shockingly high given the well-known risks associated with opioids but is consistent with what too many of us experience with family and friends. We cannot fight this public health crisis without trying to limit opioid prescriptions where comparable alternatives are available. Up until now, those options were limited, but there is hope that between new approved non-opioids and good public policy, we can turn the tides in the fight against substance abuse.

I know when a patient is suffering from serious pain, both the patient and doctor grapple with making the difficult choice to prescribe anything that could potentially lead to addiction. It's a corner far too many have been backed into by lack of pain management options. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to approve a first-ever non-opioid that can be used to treat severe pain, without the addictive nature of opioids. The new treatment functions by blocking pain in peripheral nerves outside of the brain, avoiding the chemical changes to the brain that can occur with opioid use that led to addiction. This presents a much-needed alternative by allowing patients more options in their pain treatment. The next step is ensuring our health care system allows patients to be treated with these drugs and that they can afford them.

Members of Congress are currently considering legislation that could be a major help. Introduced by Iowa’s very own Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the Alternatives to Prevent Addiction in the Nation (Alternatives to PAIN) Act would ensure our nation's seniors are able to access non-addictive, non-opioid treatments at a reasonable price by covering them under Medicare, the federally funded health care program for Americans over 65. Currently non-opioid pain medications are not covered for seniors.

This bill also encourages continued dialogue between patients and their health care professionals about preferences in pain management choices — because patients knowing their options is a huge aspect of this battle as well.

Our nation’s seniors have been hit especially hard by the opioid epidemic, which makes passing this bill so imperative and so common sense. Older patients are at higher risk of opioid abuse because of chronic pain and age-related ailments and operations. This bill takes much-needed steps to give seniors access to all the treatment options at their disposal.

The opioid epidemic is a national crisis that requires a unified, coordinated response. The Alternatives to PAIN Act takes major step, which is why I urge the rest of Iowa’s congressional delegation to support Congresswoman Miller-Meeks by choosing to co-sponsor and vote for this necessary legislation.

Teresa Horton lives in Solon.