Cantwell Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Improve Treatment Options for Adults With Chronic Pain

Cantwell Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Improve Treatment Options for Adults With Chronic Pain

Relief of Chronic Pain Act will increase access to non-opioid pain relief options More than half of WA overdoses in the last 20 years involved opioids

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) in introducing the Relief of Chronic Pain Act, which will increase access to non-opioid pain management options for people living with chronic pain.

"Opioids were involved with over 60% of drug overdoses in Washington state in the last two decades. That's why we must invest in pain-management options that do not involve addictive drugs. This bill will allow seniors to access non-opioid pain management options to treat chronic pain and help with longer term recoveries," Sen. Cantwell said.

In the United States, one in five adults live with chronic pain. Of the 50 million adults living with chronic pain, almost half experience high-impact chronic pain, limiting productivity and contributing to over $550 billion in direct healthcare costs annually.

The opioid crisis remains an active public health emergency, underscoring the ongoing risks of prescription drug addiction. The danger is especially pronounced for older adults and people living with chronic pain. Among Medicare beneficiaries, diagnosed opioid use disorder is both among the highest and the fastest-growing in the nation. Given the heightened risks to older adults and the availability of effective alternatives, prescription opioids should not be the first-line treatment for chronic pain. Yet plan design and the very low cost of generic opioids create barriers to effective non-opioid therapies. With the costs of opioid use disorder and overdose having exceeded $1.5 trillion in 2020 and a growing pipeline of non-opioid options, ensuring Medicare beneficiaries have access to non-opioid therapies is critical.

The "Relief of Chronic Pain Act" would address gaps in Medicare Part D coverage for people with chronic pain and the heightened risks associated with long-term opioid use by:

• Waiving deductibles for qualifying non-opioid pain-management drugs for chronic pain;
• Placing such drugs in the lowest cost-sharing tier; and
• Prohibiting step therapy and prior authorization practices for such drugs.

In 2023 and 2024, Sen. Cantwell traveled across the State of Washington to 10 communities -- Tacoma, Everett, Tri-Cities, Seattle, Spokane, Vancouver, Port Angeles, Walla Walla, Yakima, and Longview - hearing from people on the front lines of the opioid crisis, including first responders, law enforcement, health care providers, and people with firsthand experience of addiction. She also participated in the National Tribal Opioid Summit, a gathering of approximately 900 tribal leaders, health care workers, and first responders from across the country hosted by the Tulalip Tribes following the first-ever statewide summit hosted by the Lummi Nation. Sen. Cantwell has since used what she heard in those roundtables and related events to craft and champion specific legislative solutions, including:

• The Fatal Overdose Reduction Act, which would expand a Washington-state-developed, low-barrier fentanyl treatment pilot program across the United States;
• The Opioid Overdose Data Collection Enhancement Act, which would direct the Department of Justice to award grants to states, units of local government, law enforcement task forces, and tribes to adopt and implement an overdose data collection program;
• The Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump, which permanently classified illicit fentanyl knockoffs as Schedule I drugs;
• The Stop Smuggling Illicit Synthetic Drugs on U.S. Transportation Networks Act, which would crack down on the trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, using the U.S. transportation network;
• The FEND Off Fentanyl Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden, which will help U.S. government agencies disrupt opioid supply chains by imposing sanctions on traffickers and fighting money laundering;
• The Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act, which would require that all pill presses be engraved with a serial number and impose penalties for the removal or alteration of the number;
• The Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, which would list xylazine as a Schedule III controlled substance while protecting the drug's legal use by veterinarians, farmers, and ranchers, and enable the Drug Enforcement Administration to track xylazine's manufacturing to ensure it is not diverted to the illicit market;
• The TRANQ Research Act of 2023, signed into law by President Biden, which will spur more research into xylazine (also called "tranq") and other novel synthetic drugs by directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology to tackle these issues; and
• The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act, which would bolster Tribal law enforcement agencies by helping them hire and retain tribal law enforcement officers by raising their retirement, pension, death, and injury benefits to be on part with those of federal law enforcement officers.###

A full timeline of Sen. Cantwell's actions to combat the fentanyl crisis is available HERE.