As state and local governments begin spending billions in opioid settlement funds, one of the loudest and most frequent questions from the public has been: Where are the dollars going?
Last year, KFF Health News published an analysis by Christine Minhee, founder of OpioidSettlementTracker.com, that found 12 states including Idaho had made written commitments to publicly report expenditures on 100% of their funds in a way an average person could find and understand.
This year, KFF Health News and Minhee revisited those 12 states: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, and Utah. From their reports, it became clear that some did not fulfill their promises.
Take Idaho, for instance. Jurisdictions there completed a standard form showing how much money they spent and how it fell under approved uses of the settlement. Sounds great. But in reality, it reads like this.
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