Ohio Senator says health care bill undermines fight against opioid epidemic
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio is standing his ground and voicing strong opposition to the Senate's Health care bill that is proposed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. If that happens it would then eliminate Medicaid expansion. Senator Brown speaking at the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board says, "This bill takes away the single most important tool to fight opioid addiction. What we hear today, what I heard yesterday in Cleveland from ...
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio is standing his ground and voicing strong opposition to the Senate's Health care bill that is proposed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
If that happens it would then eliminate Medicaid expansion.
Senator Brown speaking at the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board says, "This bill takes away the single most important tool to fight opioid addiction. What we hear today, what I heard yesterday in Cleveland from the coroner, the police departments, from people going through treatments, is that nothing is more important to fight opioid abuse than to have Medicaid coverage. Today in Ohio 200,000 people right now are getting opioid treatment who are able to get it because they have insurance under the Affordable Care Act."
The Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board hosted a round table with the Senator.
Their executive director revealed that $10-Million in levy funds are able to be put towards other essential services, but if Medicaid expansion is eliminated that additional funding for those programs would be in jeopardy.
Duane Piccirilli is the Executive Director for the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board, "We fund Potential Development because of programs with Autism, we fund Sojourner House, we fund the rape program, these are wrap around programs that we fund because Medicaid expansion people now have money for treatment. That will all go away because we'll have to provide treatment for people it's very frightening."
At Neil Kennedy Recovery Center, In-Patient Clinical Director Alicia Santilli says the majority of those receiving treatment depend on Medicaid expansion to get the help they need, "Currently 90% of our patients are receiving Medicaid and that's how they're receiving treatment at Neil Kennedy. I remember prior to the Medicaid expansion that single women and males had trouble receiving insurance. I myself had trouble receiving insurance in my 20's and it was hard to get access to care. And since Medicaid expansion now we're able to treat those single women, we're able to help treat men and currently we have 40 people on our waiting list just waiting to get in and that's just with Medicaid expansion."
