Plan calls for more money, education
Franklin County and Columbus officials are calling for more treatment beds and education to fight heroin and its man-made cousins.
The 40-page “Franklin County Opiate Action Plan” that they rolled out Wednesday afternoon is the result
executive officer of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities. “We’re going to see a huge increase in overdoses and huge increase in child welfare cases.”
The House rejected the Senate budget on Wednesday night, as expected. A joint conference committee will hear updated state revenue estimates on Thursday, and the two chambers will begin to try to work out hundreds of differences and finalize the state budget by the end of next week.
If the Senate’s Medicaid plan survives, its intention to ban new enrollees after July 1, 2018 — including current enrollees who leave Medicaid because they find better employment only to need it again — must be approved by federal regulators.
Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, said the intention is to have exceptions to the freeze for those addicted to drugs or with serious mental-health problems.
“A lot of people on the expansion used to have private insurance, but the available options have been decreased because of the regulations and rules by the federal government,” he said. The budget orders the state to seek waivers from federal Medicaid requirements to “help us get control of our industry again.”
Medicaid expansion — Gov. John Kasich’s largest response to the opioid crisis — has provided mental-health and addiction services to more than 500,000 adults who gained health coverage, according to state data. Most were previously uninsured, and a recent Ohio State University study found that 95 percent of those on the expansion have no other insurance options.
Of the $1 billion Ohio spent last year to reduce drug use and fatal overdoses, $650 million provided treatment through Medicaid expansion. The Senate freeze “will exacerbate the pain felt by adults with low-paying jobs and will fan the fire of addiction in Ohio,” said Steve Wagner, executive director of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio.
A Kasich spokeswoman declined to offer an opinion of the freeze, but state Mental Health Department Director Tracy Plouck said the expansion has helped connect uninsured Ohioans with mental-health and addiction services. A freeze means “fewer Ohioans would be able to access these critical services.”
Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, did not indicate if he supports the freeze, pointing instead to House-approved Medicaid provisions such as work requirements and Controlling Board oversight.
“We want to continue to make it more effective and efficient while we wait for Congress to make the ultimate decision,” he said.
Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, a member of House leadership, said the freeze needs more study to decide if lawmakers, legally and politically, should do it.
While the Senate earmarks $176 million for the drug crisis, part of that is in federal grant money that is limited in how it can be spent or can’t be used for muchneeded treatment, Walter said. The Senate proposal also eliminates three of nine regional detox centers and $12 million a year in local funding for transportation, housing and other related services.
Sen. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, said the Senate’s drug-abuse proposals focus on prevention efforts, connecting individuals with community-based providers and enforcement.
That includes $60 million for child protective services, $6 million for detox facilities, $20 million for the expansion of treatment and recovery housing and $5 million for county drug-abuse response teams.
“It’s our sincere hope that these funds will slow and ultimately end the flow of overdosed Ohioans through our local coroners’ offices,” she said.
Some House Republicans also are concerned about other Senate drug-addiction proposals, such as:
Removing a Houseadded Housing Trust Fund provision that would have diverted up to $6 million per year for housing for people exiting drug treatment who lack a suitable residence.
Removing $54 million directed at local Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services boards. That included $75,000 for each board, $12 million for mental-health crisis stabilization and $18 million for substance-use stabilization centers.
Shifting $35 million from the state local government fund to help fund addiction services, acute substance-use stabilization centers and county coroners. Municipalities argue that shifts money that municipalities already are using, in part, to deal with the drug crisis.
Using $11 million from Ohio’s $26 million in federal 21st Century Cures Act funding, which the Kasich administration already planned to use to help with drug-treatment capacity shortages.
“My biggest concern is to make sure we treat this issue in our state and we actually put real money toward the problem,” Rosenberger said. “I think it’s good that they added additional dollars, but we’ve got to make sure we’re getting everything funded the right way.”
The regional detox centers are critical, said Rep. Robert Sprague, R-Findlay.
“When you have an epidemic like this, you need some sort of surge,” he said. “If we’re going to be No. 1 for drug overdose deaths, why can’t we be No. 1 for the way we treat addiction?”