WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the Senate this week prepares to begin debate on legislation to combat opioid and heroin abuse, U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) today introduced legislation to expand access to treatment for those who are currently not receiving the addiction care they need. The Medicaid Coverage for Addiction Recovery Expansion (Medicaid CARE) Act would modify the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Disease (IMD) Exclusion policy – a decades-old Medicaid policy that has had the unintended consequence of limiting treatment for our most at-risk populations – to allow more people to seek the vital substance abuse treatment they need.

“For people fighting addiction, an available bed in a treatment facility can mean the difference between life and death. But today, federal rules enacted more than fifty years ago are standing in the way of Maine people receiving the potentially lifesaving treatment they need,” Senator King said. “The legislation we are introducing today will increase that cap and allow otherwise limited treatment facilities across the country to extend a helping hand to more people, and hopefully, save more lives.”

“This week, the Senate will begin debate on legislation to combat opioid and heroin abuse. One of the issues at the heart of this fight is access to treatment. We know that by better treating people suffering from addiction – rather than arresting them or turning them away from help – we can reduce crime, improve health, and save lives. But as the result of a decades-old policy based on an outdated understanding of addiction, far too many low-income and at-risk patients aren’t able to access the treatment they need,” Senator Durbin said.

More specifically, the legislation would increase the 16 bed limit established under the IMD Exclusion to 40. Doing so would expand the number of people who could benefit from treatment facilities in Maine and across the country. The IMD Exclusion currently prohibits the use of federal Medicaid financing for care provided to most patients in residential mental health and substance use disorder residential treatment facilities that have more than 16 beds. According to the Maine Association of Substance Abuse Providers, at least five facilities across Maine have had to restrict the number of residential treatment beds offered because of the IMD Exclusion.

Under the Medicaid CARE Act, residential addiction treatment facilities would qualify for Medicaid payments if they:

• Provide substance use disorder treatment services;
• Are accredited by a national agency;
• Have less than 40 beds; and
• Provide services to adults for up to 60 consecutive days

In addition, the bill would increase flexibility for pregnant and postpartum women who are seeking treatment, and would allow them to access the services they need to ensure positive birth outcomes. The legislation also establishes a new $50 million youth grant program, pushed for specifically by Senator King, to fund inpatient substance abuse treatment to Medicaid beneficiaries younger than 21 in underserved, high-risk and rural communities.

Senators King and Durbin are introducing the Medicaid CARE Act as the Senate begins debate on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The legislation – which was passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month and which Senator King is cosponsoring – provides for a community-based response to heroin and opioid addiction that that involves law enforcement, the criminal justice system, the public health system and the recovery support community.

The introduction also follows a tour of Milestone in Portland, where Senator King spoke with staff and patients in recovery about the challenges they face and first discussed his intention to introduce the bill. The facility is limited to just 16 treatment beds because of the IMD exclusion. Additional facilities in Maine that are also limited include: The Farm Program at Aroostook County Mental Health in Limestone, St. Francis Recovery Center at Catholic Charities in Auburn, the Women and Children’s Program at Crossroads in Windham, and Wellspring in Bangor.

From 2002 to 2013, opioid-related deaths have quadrupled nationally according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In Maine, the overall number of drug overdose deaths last year was projected to exceed the previous year, when 208 people died of overdoses – the worst year on record, according to the Maine Attorney General’s Office. However, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, less than 12 percent of the 21.5 million Americans suffering with a substance use disorder received specialty treatment in 2014.

For more information on the legislation, click HERE. To read the text of the bill, click HERE.

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