For Black Americans struggling with opioid use disorder, a new study reveals that Medicaid — the very program meant to provide care — is instead creating deadly delays. Researchers analyzing nearly 1.2 million Medicaid enrollees newly diagnosed with opioid use disorder found that most wait up to six months before getting treatment, and Black patients are a third less likely than white patients to receive life‑saving medications like methadone. These bureaucratic hurdles come at a time when Black communities are already facing a worsening opioid crisis, with overdose death rates now higher than those of white Americans.
The study, from Boston University and Rutgers University, shows that only about a third of Medicaid patients with opioid use disorder receive medication within six months of diagnosis. Medications such as methadone and buprenorphine are highly effective at reducing cravings and overdose risk, yet Black participants face the steepest barriers to accessing them. Boston University professor Peter Treitler, a co‑author, says the findings highlight “the critical need for policies to ensure everyone can access treatment — regardless of where they live, their ability to pay, or other personal characteristics.”
Even as national overdose deaths have recently declined, Black Americans remain at far higher risk, especially Black men and Black youth ages 15 to 24, whose overdose deaths surged by 86% in 2020. The study warns that proposed Medicaid cuts and delays in federal overdose prevention funding could reverse this fragile progress. With methadone shown to reduce overdose risk by 86% compared to no medication, the authors stress that “increasing access to methadone may be crucial” to closing this racial gap in survival.
See: “Black Medicaid Patients Face Deadly Delays in Opioid Treatment” (November 25, 2025)
