John J. Faso: “I thank Chairman Walden for all of his leadership and Ranking Member Pallone for the leadership, on a bipartisan basis…”

“I thank Chairman Walden for all of his leadership and Ranking Member Pallone for the leadership, on a bipartisan basis, for bringing all these bills to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my legislation, H.R. 5685, the Medicare Opioid Safety Education Act. When enacted, this bill will help to combat the opioid crisis by improving efforts to educate seniors on alternatives to traditional opioid pain medication as they use it through the Medicare part D program. Nearly one-third of seniors on Medicare part D were prescribed an opioid in 2016--nearly one-third of seniors prescribed an opioid on Medicare part D in 2016. That statistic underlines just how pervasive opioid painkillers are among seniors who are often dealing with issues stemming from chronic pain. Seniors are given an informational booklet entitled ``Medicare & You'' prior to becoming Medicare eligible that details the services available to them upon enrollment. Currently, the word ``opioid'' actually only appears once in this booklet, and, given the national crisis that we are facing of opioid addiction among all segments of our society, that is really not enough. My bill would substantially improve Medicare opioid education by adding available opioid alternatives and additional education information to this handbook for every senior to see. Mr.…”