Opioid overdose deaths among younger medicare patients with disability

(JAMA Network) This observational study estimated the rate of opioid overdose deaths among Medicare enrollees younger than 65 who qualified for Medicare because of a disability. The study included more than 1.7 million of these enrollees in 2016 and 1,371 opioid overdose deaths. Researchers report those enrollees represented 14.9% of the Medicare population but they accounted for almost 81% of all opioid overdose deaths among all Medicare enrollees.