WASHINGTON, D. C. – As the nation deals with a crisis of opioid addiction, Attorney General Karl A. Racine has joined a group of 20 state attorneys general in urging members of Congress and President Trump to adequately fund drug treatment in any plan to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The initial ACA replacement plan that President Trump and Republican leaders proposed earlier this year would have cut federal funding for drug treatment by an estimated $5.5 billion.
The ACA currently allows significant and critical assistance for drug treatment, providing coverage to an additional 2.8 million Americans suffering from addiction. It requires both private plans and Medicaid to cover certain kinds of drug treatment.
“In addition to prevention efforts, part of the solution to ending the nationwide opioid addiction epidemic is helping those who are already addicted get the treatment they desperately need,” said Attorney General Racine. “The ACA currently funds evidence-based drug treatment options that help millions of Americans, including District residents, and we must ensure that we continue to fund these life-saving treatments.”
The attorneys general say this provision is essential in their fight against the growing drug epidemic that faces most states. Many attorneys general view the drug epidemic as the single greatest challenge facing their communities, which are still recovering from the flood of addictive pain pills and now face a surge in drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and carfentanil.
“In the midst of an ongoing public health crisis, the federal government cannot abandon this commitment to our communities,” the group said in its letter. “Our nation faces a drug epidemic that grows more difficult and dangerous by the hour. These drugs are causing record numbers of overdoses and are destabilizing whole communities. It is our belief that the reported numbers of overdose deaths are only a fraction of the real toll.”
The letter also noted further dangers posed by reported details of the replacement proposals.
“The initial replacement plan would have cut federal funding for drug treatment by an estimated $5.5 billion,” the attorneys general wrote. “Moving to a ‘block grant’ or any form of ‘capitated rate’ for Medicaid would further imperil $7.9 billion in treatment funding, which represents 25% of all funding for drug treatment. And the projected loss of coverage for 24 million Americans under the initial proposal would have left many Americans suffering from addiction with no means of securing or paying for treatment.”
“We urge you to protect access to substance use treatment and maintain our partnership and necessary levels of federal funding as we work to tackle this deadly and destructive epidemic,” the letter concluded.
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear’s office led the coalition supporting the letter. In addition to Kentucky and the District, other states signing on to the letter were: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington state.
A copy of the letter is attached.