Politics |

Colorado congresswoman introduces bill to incentivize states to cover drug treatment

A new bill introduced in Congress by U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen seeks to incentivize more states to offer drug abuse treatment through Medicaid, six years after she sponsored a bill requiring Colorado to provide that care.

The bill was introduced in the U.S. House late last month. If passed, it would make it easier for states to cover treatment for drug abuse, like inpatient hospital stays or residential treatment, via Medicaid, in part by ensuring that the federal government will cover 90% of new costs in the first five years after a state adopts the program.

Under current law, Medicaid doesn’t cover drug treatment. States can request coverage via a waiver system, as Colorado did after Pettersen, then a state House member, passed a bill requiring it do so in 2018. Several states have pursued waivers, but many haven’t. The waiver process can be cumbersome and time-consuming, presenting a decisive — or convenient — barrier for states who may already be leery about drug treatment, said Rob Valuck, the head of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention.

The bill would remove that barrier by allowing states to begin offering Medicaid-covered treatment without seeking a waiver.

Pettersen, a first-term Democrat running for reelection in the 7th Congressional District west of Denver and Colorado Springs, unveiled the measure in Denver on Thursday with her mother, who is in long-term recovery from heroin use. Valuck and Attorney General Phil Weiser were also among the attendees.

“My mom is an example of what’s possible when people struggling with substance use disorder have access to the resources and support they need, but I know she was one of the lucky ones,” Pettersen said in a statement. “Far too many people are left without care because of the stigma associated with addiction and the lack of funding and priorities at every level of government.”

Pettersen previewed the bill to The Denver Post last summer as she began working to take substance use policies passed in Colorado — ranging from Medicaid coverage to overdose antidote access — to the federal level. Her efforts come amid a national overdose crisis fueled by the synthetic opioid fentanyl. More than 107,000 Americans fatally overdosed last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That represented a 3% decline from 2022’s death toll, though it is still high enough to register as one of the worst overdose years in American history.

Her public unveiling of the bill — at a Denver facility where her mother once received treatment — came a few days after Aug. 31’s Overdose Awareness Day. Fatal overdoses increased slightly in Colorado last year but hit a record high in Denver, according to the city’s overdose dashboard. Denver activists held an Overdose Grief Day on Aug. 31 to call for additional action from city officials to address the crisis.

Valuck said it would be difficult to pass substantive drug policy through this current Congress — especially given that Democrats, like Pettersen, are in the minority in the House. But he argued that it was “unconscionably bizarre” for Medicaid not to cover drug abuse treatment, and he said that allowing it to do so will save states money in criminal justice and health care costs.

“Those are the two ways people end up getting care if you don’t pay for treatment: They go to the emergency room or they go to jail,” he said. “That’s the de facto treatment system if you don’t cover it under Medicaid. ”

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