Depression drugs next addiction?

As part of my annual physical yesterday, the nurse had me complete a checklist on depression. The doctor looked at the form when entering the exam room. My wife commented that the depression checklist was new. The doctor said it is now a Medicare requirement. All patients must be checked for depression. I commented that we now would see depression medicines prescribed, just as pain medicines have been for the last few years, leading to the opioid crisis. My wife said she had read of congressional hearings held a few years before the advent of opioid addiction. From the hearings, Congress decided people with no health insurance and people too poor to afford drugs were being cheated of their right to be free from pain. Therefore, Congress declared, Medicare would pay for pain drugs. The doctor said that before opioid prescriptions became national news, Medicare made pain questionnaires part of physical exams. Billions of dollars later, we have a deadly opioid crisis.

So, we had: Medicare mandating pain checklist for all patients, Congress deciding Medicare would pay for opioids, and a national death toll from opioid addiction.

And now, with hearings and lawsuits concerning opioids, and a possible loss of billions to pharmacy companies, Medicare requires depression checklist for patients.

How long before there are congressional hearings on poor people being deprived of depression medication?