President Donald Trump declared America’s opioid crisis a public health emergency, announcing, “We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.” But how?
The president opted not to declare the situation a national emergency, despite widespread pressure. A national emergency designation would likely have elicited robust federal funding. A public health emergency, on the other hand, relies on the Public Health Emergency Fund, which some say is inadequate to respond to the epidemic. As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdoses kills 91 Americans every day.
Read more at Institute for Patient Access.
