ATLANTA — A panel of Georgia lawmakers is considering introducing legislation next year forcing insurance companies to cover the cost of alternatives to opioid pain medications as a way to further address problems with the addictive medications.

State Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, said she and other members of a special House opioid study committee expect to make alternative medications more affordable by requiring insurance companies to cover nonopioid pain management options the same way they do for opioids.

There is legislative precedent for such a requirement. Au pointed to a 2022 mental health measure that requires insurance companies to cover mental health the same as they do for physical health.

State Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, who chairs the House Public Health Committee and served on the study panel, supports that approach. She said doctors prescribe opioids because they are cheaper than physical therapy or alternate medications, some of which are less effective.

The bipartisan study committee spent five months listening to testimony from medical experts, law enforcement officials and people in recovery from opioid addiction. The committee has until the end of the year to produce a final report.

Discussion over opioid alternatives comes as drug overdose deaths have fallen nationally from about 113,000 in June 2023 to about 97,000 in June 2024, according to preliminary data from the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This year, state lawmakers aimed to reduce opioid deaths with legislation that made naloxone, an opioid reversal drug, more readily available at schools, on college campuses and in government buildings. It also allows anyone to administer the drug to reverse an overdose, including administrators, students, teachers and visitors.

Another measure, Senate Bill 465, which was signed into law this year, would allow authorities to charge anyone with manslaughter who knowingly manufactures or sells synthetic opioid fentanyl that results in a fatal overdose.

And while opioid prescriptions have decreased by 3% from 2022 to 2023, according to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, lawmakers want to lower that prescription rate even further in an effort to not rely on addictive painkillers as the preferred solution.

Separate from the study committee, Georgia is expected to receive more than $479 million to aid in the fight against opioid abuse over the next 18 years through Georgia’s Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust. The funds come from a $26 billion multistate court settlement reached with companies linked to distributing and manufacturing prescription painkillers linked to the opioid epidemic. The companies include Cencora, formerly AmerisourceBergen; Cardinal Health; McKesson; and Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, formerly Janssen.

Last month, the state panel recommended providing more than $44 million in funds from the trust to aid opioid addiction treatment and prevention efforts.

“A lot of this is going to be about education to make sure there is a stronger awareness of options, that opioids are not necessarily the first thing to go to in certain cases, while in some it is definitely necessary,” said state Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, who chaired the study committee.

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