According to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute, the average California Medicare set-aside includes almost $49,000 for drugs — about half of all future medical expenses.

Sixty-nine percent of MSAs included funding for opioids.

But when researchers compared the MSAs to a “case-matched control group of closed workers’ comp permanent disability claims for similar injuries, the authors found that the WCMSAs called for much stronger opioids, as average cumulative morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) allocated to WCMSAs with opioids were 45 times the level used in the control group during the life of the claim.”

Continue reading: Paduda: Opioids, MSAs and the Feds