Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
$2B Included To Fight Opioid Epidemic Far Short Of The Funding Some Republicans Were Seeking
The Wall Street Journal: Health Bill Includes Opioid Funding, But May Not Satisfy Some GOP Senators
The Senate GOP’s health-care bill would offer $2 billion for opioid addiction treatment for one year, falling short of the $45 billion over 10 years some Republican senators wanted. The funding’s inclusion in the Senate version of the health-care overhaul comes after weeks of protest from House and Senate Republicans who feared steep cuts to Medicaid would worsen an already growing opioid crisis, with Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia leading the push. (Nunn, 6/22)
The Washington Post: Limited Coverage, Subsidies For Some In Senate GOP’s Proposed Health-Care Overhaul
The Senate Republicans’ Better Care Reconciliation Act would significantly affect health coverage for many Americans, whether through the individual insurance market or Medicaid. Here are a few examples of how. ... The Senate bill provides $2 billion in fiscal 2018 for substance abuse treatment and recovery, but eventually it would take away much more by rolling back Medicaid expansion in 2020, capping federal payments to states and allowing them to change what qualifies as an essential service. Right now, all insurers and Medicaid must offer drug treatment benefits that are on par with their benefits for physical conditions. If this man’s state decided that substance abuse treatment was no longer an essential service, coverage for that care could be eliminated. (McGinley, Bernstein and Sun, 6/22)
Stat: Opioid Crisis Funding In Senate Health Care Bill Is Limited
The health care bill unveiled by Senate Republicans on Thursday includes funding to help tackle the nation’s opioid crisis — but dramatically less than the amount sought by two GOP senators and recovery advocates. Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) at one point had requested $45 billion over the course of a decade to keep the battle against opioids on the nation’s front burner. The bill instead would allocate only $2 billion, all in 2018. (Facher, 6/22)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Senate Health Care Bill Weakens Patient Protections, Caps Medicaid Funding
The Senate’s bill allocates $2 billion in 2018 for treatment and services related to the epidemic of people addicted to prescription pain pills and heroin. As many as 65,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, the majority of deaths caused by opioids. Only 1 out of 10 Americans with a substance use disorder gets treatment, according to Howard Weissman, executive director of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse based in Olivette. (Liss and Bernhard, 6/22)
Nashville Tennessean: Senate Health Care Bill Contains $2 Billion To Address Opioid Crisis, A Fraction Of What Some Had Hoped
But Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said the bill increases resources to fight the opioid crisis and that some senators are likely to lobby for additional funding when the legislation goes to the Senate floor next week. "It’s by far the largest amount Congress has ever appropriated in one year for opioids,” Alexander said in an interview. (Buie, 6/22)
