Pregnancy Can Turn Deadly Before Prenatal Care Begins
LDI Fellow and OB-GYN Calls for Faster Testing and Better Early-Pregnancy Care
In Their Own Words
Insurers Should Incentivize Non-Drug Treatments for Chronic Pain
An LDI Fellow and Chronic Pain Researcher Call on Health Plans To Lower Barriers to Physical Therapy, Acupuncture, and Interdisciplinary Pain Care
Print:
This op-ed originally appeared in KevinMD.com on March 24, 2026.
The opioid crisis rages on, and there is plenty of blame to go around: pharmaceutical companies, drug distributors, reckless prescribers, the FDA. One entity that has been overlooked is health insurance, whose incentives pushed chronic pain patients to take opioids in the first place.
Check out your insurance plan and the copays you pay for different services. In one of ours, a generic medication costs $10 a month, at most. Physical therapy, which can be hugely beneficial for pain, costs patients $50 per session, assuming you have hit your deductible. Weekly visits would amount to $200 per month, or 20 times the cost of the drug.
It is no wonder chronic pain patients came to rely on opioids.
Making it worse is the fact that non-drug treatments and integrative approaches like acupuncture require more effort: They need time, transportation, and childcare, and may not be covered by insurance at all. But these treatments carry lower risks and more benefits than opioids, which remain a predominant treatment for chronic pain despite a decade of deprescribing. Moreover, the effects of non-drug treatments tend to last. For example, acupuncture has been shown to ease sciatica pain for a year after treatment.
Read the full op-ed here.
Authors
Molly Candon, PhD
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine; Assistant Professor, Health Care Management, Wharton School
Daniel Clauw, MD
Scientific Director, Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center; Professor, Anesthesiology, Medicine (Rheumatology), and Psychiatry, University of Michigan
More on Health Care Access and Coverage
Can Venture Capital Help Solve America’s Maternal Health Crisis?
U.S. Startups Offer New Solutions but Raise Concerns About Medicaid Access and Equity
“High-Deductible Health Plans Are Not the Answer”
They Cut Health Spending at First but Don’t Slow Long-Term Growth Rate, LDI Fellows Say
Understanding CMS’s Proposed Rule Regarding Prior Authorization For Drugs
LDI Expert Considers Cost, Quality, and Access Implications
Congress is Fighting the Wrong Pharmacy Battle
Better Plan Choices Would Lower Drug Costs, Not PBM Breakups, LDI’s Mark Pauly Says
Why Some Family Health Insurance Is Now Much Pricier
LDI Expert Proposes Fixes to Keep Marketplace Plans Within Families’ Budgets