Kentucky
State Facts
Deaths, or 64.9% of all overdose deaths in the year ending April 2025 involved opioids.¹
Claims, or 4.51% of all Medicare Part D claims were for opioids in 2023 – an average of 74 per prescriber.²
Opioid Prescriptions were written for every 100 persons in Kentucky in 2023.³
the estimated total societal cost of opioid use disorder (OUD) in Kentucky in 2024.⁴
Opioid Settlement Funds
National approved use: providing support for non-opioid pain treatment alternatives, including training providers to offer or refer to multi-modal, evidence-informed treatment of pain.
Member & Endorser Footprint
Co-Sponsors (119th)
Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY-03)
2025 Introduced Relevant Legislation
SB 128
SB 128 prevents Kentucky Medicaid from denying coverage for non-opioid analgesics in favor of opioid alternatives. Additionally, it prohibits the implementation of stricter or more extensive utilization controls on non-opioid analgesics compared to the least restrictive requirements applied to opioids or other narcotic pain medications.
Introduced
02/11/2025Plan Impact
MedicaidVoices Letters
SB 128 Sponsor Letter of Support
SB 128 Chairman Letter of Support
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Medicare Part D Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool. https://cms-oeda.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=5390718d875d4c049b1ac5976a9ff083
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Opioid Dispensing Rate Maps. https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/data-research/facts-stats/opioid-dispensing-rate-maps.html
4. Avalere Health (2025). The cost of addiction: Opioid use disorder in the United States. https://advisory.avalerehealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Avalere-Health-White-Paper_The-cost-of-opioid-addiction_OUD-in-the-United-States.pdf