The goal of the opioid epidemic response plan announced by President Donald Trump will be to cut opioid prescriptions by 33 percent within three years, according to POLITICO.

The final version of the plan would make several changes to Medicare and Medicaid policy in an attempt to achieve its goal. For example, changes made by CMS would base 75 percent of reimbursement for opioid prescriptions on “best practices” within three years. For Medicaid patients, the plan called for Congress to make it easier for inpatient addiction treatment to be covered by the program.

“I want to win this [opioid] battle. I don’t want to leave at the end of seven years and have these problems, OK?” Trump said at an event in New Hampshire announcing the plan.  

The plan also followed recommendations from the White House’s opioid commission, calling for expanded access to naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses and pushing states for more stringent standards on physicians having to check their state’s prescription drug monitoring programs.

Trump’s plan also emphasized law enforcement’s role in addressing the addiction crisis and he repeatedly mentioned expanding use of the death penalty to drug traffickers as a top priority. Senior White House officials told POLITICO the penalty would continue to apply only to traffickers in certain cases as it does under current law.

The focus on enforcement over healthcare-related solutions, however, troubled some Democrats who had worked on Trump’s opioid commission.

“They are treating this like a criminal epidemic as opposed to a public health epidemic,” said former Rep. Patrick Kennedy. “He should be using his bully pulpit to send a clear message that the health system needs to change its stripes.”

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