“Advocates from around the country are working to pressure lawmakers to provide billions of dollars in funding to address the opioid epidemic.
The funding aspect of the opioid epidemic has particularly frustrated Democratic lawmakers and some advocates. Last month, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency, but the move didn’t unlock millions of dollars, and Trump did not include a funding request to Congress.
The newly formed Opioid Network has a number of requests aimed at curbing the opioid crisis, such as $45 billion over 10 years, the passage of a bipartisan insurance market stabilization bill and no cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans.
The Opioid Network consists of more than 45 groups from around the country and is convened and supported by the Center for Popular Democracy, which helped lead some of the efforts to protest Republican bills to repeal and replace ObamaCare.”
Read more at: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/360135-new-group-advocates-for-45b-to-fight-opioid-epidemic
Source: TheHill.com – November 13, 2017
