HUNTINGTON, W. Va. — The nation’s advancing opioid epidemic has officials and lawmakers in the most impacted states taking on the entities they deem responsible for skyrocketing drug addiction and overdose numbers.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced at Marshall University Monday they will press the health insurance companies that have made billions off the sales of opioids to help curtail the nation’s largest drug problem to date.

They joined 37 other attorneys general in writing a letter to insurers requesting they adopt a “financial incentive structure” for the use of non-opioid pain management techniques when viable for chronic, non-cancer patients.

In the letter, the attorneys general asked insurers to promote non-opioid pain management alternatives that may not be currently covered at the same level as prescription opioids — rather than highly-addictive pain pills.

They argued insurance companies have the power to reduce opioid prescriptions and simplify patient access to other forms of pain management treatment.

“We’re not physicians, and we’re not going to be writing these policies,” Morrisey said. “What we’re doing today is asking these insurance companies to look closely at their coverage and payment policies so those unintentional payment incentives don’t exist.”

As opioid addiction and resulting fatalities have swept the country, both Kentucky and West Virginia have been especially hard hit by the epidemic. Last year, Kentucky had more than 1,400 opioid-related overdose deaths reported, according to a state report.

Last week, an additional Kentucky county joined nearly 20 others to file suit against the nation’s top 3 opioid producers in hopes of fighting to curb the rampant prescription drug problem in the Bluegrass State.

Beshear announced in June that his office intends to file multiple lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers where there is evidence that they contributed to the opioid epidemic by illegally marketing and selling opioids to Kentucky residents.

Beshear issued a request for proposal (RFP) for legal services to assist the Commonwealth in multiple lawsuits and to ensure that Kentucky tax dollars are not used for the costs of the litigation.

Beshear, a Democrat, and Morrisey, a Republican, said the deadliest overdose epidemic in U.S. history is a bipartisan issue.

Suppliers of prescription opioids are partly to blame for the rise in heroin use in the Tri-State region, Beshear said.

“Nearly 80 percent of heroin users first become addicted through prescription pills,” Beshear said. “If we can reduce opioid prescriptions and use other forms of pain management treatment, we will slow or even reverse the rate of addiction.”

Beshear suggested insurers could cover costs for physical therapy treatments rather than simply provide pain pills, for instance. “Every one knows some patients will need prescription pills,” he said. “But a lot of people should have access to other forms of treatment.”

Some of those people include teenagers, Beshear said. The attorney general from Kentucky said many middle and high school athletes injured in sports in the Bluegrass often receive a consultation and prescription opioids, that could lead them down a path of addiction or dependency.

“There are steps that should be taken before subjecting a young mind to the power of these addictive pills,” Beshear said.

Morrisey said he’s optimistic every insurance company will “respond positively” to the letter from the attorneys general.

“I think 37 attorneys general provides a tremendous amount of pressure. We start how you’re supposed to start — asking nicely,” Beshear said. “But ultimately, when you don’t work with attorneys general and you end up working against them, you can ask the tobacco companies how that works out.”

Beshear told the Ashland, Kentucky Daily Independent the attorneys general don’t “want to go in with threats” but instead open a dialogue with the insurers, and it would be a “long way down the road” before any type of litigation is considered.

In addition to Kentucky and West Virginia, attorneys general from Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia joined in sending the letter to health insurers.

The Ashland, Kentucky Daily Independent contributed to this story.