A new study by Harvard Medical School and New York University shows that repealing the Affordable Care Act would cut $5.5 billion a year for substance-abuse and mental health treatment, creating a 50 percent spike in the number of people unable to address their opioid dependence.
“We estimate that approximately 1,253,000 people with serious mental disorders and about 2.8 million Americans with a substance use disorder, of whom about 222,000 have an opioid disorder, would lose some or all of their insurance coverage” under a repeal of Obamacare, wrote Harvard health economics professor Richard Frank and Sherry Glied, dean of the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University .
The 21st Century Cures Act boosted funding for opioid treatment by $1 billion over two years and money to treat serious mental illnesses by about $200 million in 2017. The funding helped provide opioid treatment for some 420,000 people who need it but can’t access it or afford it. Repealing the ACA would increase that number by more than 210,000, Frank and Glied found.
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Prescription drugs ─ the changing face of addiction
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, addiction to prescription opioid painkillers is real. Of the 21.5 million Americans 12 or older who had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use disorder
The Mayo Clinic
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, addiction to prescription opioid painkillers is real. Of the 21.5 million Americans 12 or older who had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use disorder
“The human impact of repealing the Affordable Care Act cannot be overstated,” said a statement from Gary Mendell, CEO of Shatterproof, a nonprofit organization that fights addiction. “Four million Americans who are struggling with mental illness or substance use disorders would lose access to life-saving treatment and care if Congress moves forward with ACA repeal.”
Repeal without replacement of funds would have “particularly adverse effects” on states like Kentucky and Pennsylvania, which used the health care law’s Medicaid expansion to promote medication-assisted treatment for opioid abusers. Medicaid now pays for 35 to 50 percent of all medication-assisted treatment in Kentucky, the study found. In Pennsylvania, it’s 30 percent.
“They would find it much more challenging to maintain these evidence-based programs in the face of a repeal of those expansions,” Frank and Glied wrote.
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Former heroin addict talks about low point, rehab
Chayse Weinreb, 27, talks about how he became addicted to heroin. The North Miami Beach native has been clean of heroin for several months thanks to Miami-Dade’s drug court.
Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com
Chayse Weinreb, 27, talks about how he became addicted to heroin. The North Miami Beach native has been clean of heroin for several months thanks to Miami-Dade’s drug court.
In Florida, which fills 623 opioid prescriptions per 1,000 people, nearly 200,000 get substance abuse treatment through their marketplace coverage, the study found. In Texas, it’s nearly 153,000, and nearly 28,000 in Missouri.
In all three states, care would be jeopardized if ACA repeal slashes federal funding for the subsidies that help marketplace plan members pay their premiums.
In a statement, Linda Rosenberg, CEO and president of the National Council for Behavioral Health, said repeal essentially would leave states “to deal with their increasing addiction and death rates on their own. The opioid epidemic is already taking a massive toll in our communities, and if anything we need more resources, not less.”
Tony Pugh: 202-383-6013, @TonyPughDC
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