Politics are more polarized and acrimonious than ever. But one public health concern — the nation’s epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse — is uniting some unexpected bedfellows.
There is Patrick Kennedy, former Democratic congressman from Rhode Island, who has since made a career of advocating for mental health treatment since leaving the House in 2011. And there is Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives and 2012 presidential candidate, who recently has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Donald Trump.
The two, however, are quick to point out that, back in their Capitol Hill days, they had a history of working together.
Now, joining forces with criminal justice advocate Van Jones, the pair is pushing for policy changes that would shift how the health system treats addiction and how that treatment is financed, such as allowing more doctors to prescribe opioid reduction therapy — in which doctors give patients smaller amounts of less addictive drugs — and making insurance plans pay more generously for that kind of care.
[For more of this story, written by Shefali Luthra, go to http://khn.org/news/gingrich-k...he-khn-conversation/]
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