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The left has put an assault on the Republicans' attempt to repeal Obamacare. One thing that the left likes to throw in the face of the right is that repealing Obamacare will make the opioid crisis even worse. This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, Obamacare caused the opioid crisis to get worse.

Here is a Twitter thread with some cold, hard facts regarding Obamacare and the opioid crisis.

Obamacare Caused The Opioid Crisis To Get Worse

Alright, that was a lot to take in. An argument has been made that the higher overdose rates that happened in counties that embraced Obamacare is not due to economic hardships. They argue that this is because there wasn't a similar spike alcohol-related deaths and suicides. If the problems were economic, this would certainly be the case.

These young people are being forced into insurance such as Medicaid. This has pushed them into the direction of obtaining prescriptions for opioids.

There is a report showing how many New York counties were flooded with medicaid that led to opioid addiction.

An exclusive review of Medicaid prescription drug data found oxycodone painkillers flooded into New York from 2012 to 2014, including 8.8 million pills in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties alone, enough for six pain pills for every man, woman and child in the Lower Hudson Valley.

Strikingly, taxpayers funded much of the flow of drugs, covering millions of dollars in Medicaid payments. These pain pills hooked many New Yorkers and started some down the path to heroin, the chemically similar street drug being smuggled into the U.S. in record amounts by Mexican drug cartels.

Statewide, the number of pills paid for just from Medicaid reached 251 million during that same period, enough for 13 pain pills for every New Yorker. The price tag for taxpayers? More than $1 billion based on a review of pain-pill reimbursement rates.

“It’s not just a public health issue. There is a financial impact which would suggest that states should be much more aggressive in their use of this database," said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing.

It is difficult to determine exactly how many pills were prescribed, or how much they cost taxpayers, because the narcotic bureau withheld many details, citing privacy and public safety laws.

Per a report by Time, under Obamacare Medicare hospital payments were distributed to hospitals based on how their patient-satisfaction surveys. These surveys asked patients about how successfully the hospital managed their pain. It is a known fact that without a narcotic, pain management forces the scores to be lower. This forces hospitals into distributing opioids and creating opioid abuse.

Obamacare Caused The Opioid Crisis To Get Worse

There is no doubt that repealing Obamacare will lead to a great first step in stopping the ongoing opioid crisis. This is the exact opposite of what the left wants you to believe.

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