Maine Medicaid Launches Two-Year Cutoff For Opiate Addiction Treatment Drugs

On January 1, 2013, Maine’s Medicaid program, MaineCare, instituted a policy that ends coverage of opioid addiction treatment maintenance doses of methadone and Suboxone after 24 months, unless the medications are deemed both medically necessary and effective. Suboxone is a name brand oral medication that combines buprenorphine to reduce opioid craving and withdrawal symptoms with naloxone, an opioid agonist to reduce the risk of abuse. The 24-month period is a lifetime cumulative limit, and need not be consecutive months. For people taking Suboxone, the policy is retroactive. A preauthorization is required to continue the treatment for those who . . .