House Oversight and Government Reform panel examines heroin, opioid abuse

One barrier to appropriate care for patients with substance use disorders is the Medicaid exclusion for “institutions for mental disease,” Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO) said at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing today on the heroin and opioid abuse epidemic. Testifying at the hearing, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen, M.D., agreed. “The IMD exclusion is not based on evidence,” she said. “We desperately need residential substance use disorder treatments and removing the waiver on the federal level will allow us to increase the ability to treat all of our patients regardless of their insurance status.” Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) criticized “aggressive marketing" of certain opioids by drug companies, calling the profits “blood money.” Wen said “doctors want to do the right thing,” but need resources to respond to “this expectation that there should be a pill prescribed for every pain.” Also testifying at the hearing were officials from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Orange County, CA.