The labor force has fallen significantly in places with high concentrations of opioid prescriptions over the past 15 years, meaning that employers often have a direct interest in combatting the opioid crisis.
Between the lines: As the economy continues to strengthen and more jobs go unfilled, the business impact of those out of the workforce and struggling with opioid addiction will become only more noticeable.
We still have an uninsured problem in the U.S., but we have a far broader health care affordability problem that hits sick people especially hard.
Why it matters: It's time to think more broadly about who's having trouble paying for the health care they need. The combination of lack of insurance and affordability affects about a quarter of the non-elderly population at any one time, but almost half of people who are sick.
City workers in San Fransisco are taking to the streets and offering bupenorphine prescriptions to homeless people addicted to opioids, reports the New York Times.
Why it matters: This is an example of a city applying effective treatment for opioid addiction. At the end of a year long pilot program, just 20 of 95 participants were still taking buprenorphine.
Correction: This story has been updated to delete an incorrect sentence suggesting there had been opioid overdoses in Connecticut.
