Documents have been obtained showing the exact dollar amounts—down to the cent—that local governments have been allocated in 2022 and 2023 to battle the ongoing opioid crisis.
This story was first published by KFF Health News. Read the original article here.
Thousands of local governments nationwide are receiving settlement money from companies that made, sold, or distributed opioid painkillers, like Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, and Walmart. The companies are shelling out more than $50 billion total in settlements from national lawsuits. But finding out the precise amount each city or county is receiving has been nearly impossible because the firm administering the settlement hasn’t made the information public.
Until now.
After more than a month of communications with state attorneys general, private lawyers working on the settlement, and the settlement administrators, KFF Health News has obtained documents showing the exact dollar amounts—down to the cent—that local governments were allocated for 2022 and 2023. More than 200 spreadsheets detail the amounts paid by four of the companies involved in national settlements. (Several other opioid-related companies will start making payments later this year.)
Route Fifty
By Aneri Pattani,
KFF Health News
June 16, 2023