KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart appeared on Spectrum News 1’s “LA Times Today” last week to explain how California is trying to help hard-drug users kick their habit by paying them to stay clean.
California was the first state to expand access to this cutting-edge addiction treatment, called “contingency management,” in its Medicaid program. Washington and Montana have since followed.
California is focusing on stimulants like meth and cocaine. Under the program, participants must pee into a cup regularly, and if the urine is free of stimulants, they get paid with a gift card, starting at $10 for the first test. The longer they abstain, the more they’re paid — up to $599 a year.
Click here to watch Hart discuss the treatment on “LA Times Today.”
You can read Hart’s in-depth article about California’s initiative. She also wrote about national efforts to encourage other states to adopt the novel approach.
This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
