A lady reached for a dose of methadone on the Behavioral Well being Community opioid remedy clinic.
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As Republican lawmakers seek for deep spending cuts, a rising variety of critics worry a roll-back of Medicaid {dollars} spent serving to People slammed by the road fentanyl disaster.
A report launched Monday by Democrats on the Congressional Joint Financial Committee warned medical remedy for greater than 1,000,000 individuals within the U.S. now receiving medical remedy for opioid dependancy, together with fentanyl, might be affected.
“President Trump and Congressional Republicans have proposed gutting Medicaid— to be able to pay for tax breaks for company particular pursuits and billionaires — which might jeopardize dependancy care simply as our nation is lastly beginning to see progress in addressing the fentanyl disaster,” mentioned Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, in an announcement.
During the last decade, as extra states expanded Medicaid protection beneath provisions of the Inexpensive Care Act, this system emerged because the main supply of insurance coverage protection for prime quality dependancy remedy within the U.S.
A research launched in February by the Brookings Establishment, a centrist think-tank that focuses extensively on drug coverage points, discovered practically 90 p.c of medical remedy for opioid and fentanyl dependancy within the U.S. is paid for not less than partly by means of Medicaid.
Most drug coverage consultants say that funding helped cut back drug overdose deaths, which plunged 26.6 p.c nationwide from June 2023 to October 2024, in keeping with the most recent provisional knowledge from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
However the Inexpensive Care Act stays a goal for a lot of GOP lawmakers, who view the Obama-era program with suspicion. Whereas it isn’t but clear how Republican price range proposals will influence Medicaid and its function in drug remedy, Home GOP leaders have floated concepts that embrace slashing as a lot as $2.3 trillion from this system over the following decade.
Home Price range Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, proper, and Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson, R-La., have each known as for main cuts to Medicaid which grew into a significant supply of dependancy remedy funding beneath the Inexpensive Care Act.
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Talking over the weekend with Fox Information, Home Speaker Mike Johnson recommended younger males, who’re extremely weak to drug dependancy and account for the overwhelming majority of U.S. overdose deaths, shouldn’t qualify for Medicaid insurance coverage.
“We’ve got to remove individuals for instance on Medicaid who usually are not eligible to be there, able-bodied staff, for instance, younger males, who ought to by no means be on this system in any respect,” Johnson mentioned.
Analysis reveals males are two to a few occasions extra prone to die from drug deaths, in contrast with girls; and fentanyl is now a number one reason behind demise for males beneath the age of fifty.
A rising variety of dependancy researchers, docs and individuals who survived drug dependancy have raised alarm deep Medicaid cuts may derail the nationwide restoration from the fentanyl-overdose epidemic.
“It’s extremely laborious to have a look at the price range framework created by Republicans and picture a situation apart from Medicaid being reduce severely,” mentioned Stanford College’s Keith Humphreys talking with NPR final month. “It is a scary prospect. That will likely be extraordinarily painful for households dealing with dependancy.”
In an announcement, Dr. Brian Hurley, head of the American Society of Habit Medication, urged lawmakers to guard Medicaid enlargement for People dealing with dependancy.
“It not solely helps states pay for evidence-based dependancy remedy…however it additionally undermines the drug cartels’ enterprise mannequin by lowering demand for illicit opioids,” Hurley mentioned.
The Brookings Establishment report concluded {that a} main rollback of Medicaid enlargement may drastically cut back dependancy care nationwide.
“Since Medicaid funds for remedy of OUD [opioid use disorder] dwarfs all different public sources of funding for OUD care, important reductions would considerably cut back the nation’s financial dedication to addressing the opioid epidemic,” the Brookings report discovered.
