AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
People are removed from a sit-in outside of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office as they protest proposed cuts to Medicaid, Thursday, June 22, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Senate Republican leadership on Thursday released a draft of its long-awaited healthcare bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.The bill contained only one mention of the ongoing opioid crisis: It appropriates $2 billion for fiscal year 2018 for the secretary of Health and Human Services "to provide grants to states to support substance use disorder treatment and recovery support services for individuals with mental or substance use disorders."
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander has argued, among others, that the appropriation is "by far the largest amount Congress has ever appropriated in one year for opioids. But it pales in comparison to the $45 billion over 10 years for which Republicans like Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito reportedly asked.
It also doesn't account for the billions of dollars in funding for treatment and addiction services that could be lost due to other provisions of the BCRA, the Senate's bill.