In addition to the other actors in the opiod mess, the ACA, as enforced, coerced hospitals towards coercing their doctors to prescribe painkillers at high rates.
“the ACA, as enforced, coerced hospitals towards coercing their doctors to prescribe painkillers at high rates.”
Interesting if true. Do you have any sources, articles to back it up? I do know that hospitals were required at one point to list the pain score as a vital sign, but I am not aware of coercion to prescribe opiates by government or hospital administrators at least publically.
I do know that DEA increased the allowable opioid production in 2012 by about 40%. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/05/opioid-production-us-epidemic-drug-enforcement-administration
But that being said, the increased overdoses is due to illicit drugs not prescriptions.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6369835/ and https://www.cato.org/blog/washington-post-revelation-pain-pill-distribution-only-helps-fuel-false-narrative.