In Visit to Catholic Medical Center, Shaheen Highlights Devastating Impact ACA Repeal & Trump Budget Would Have on NH’s Efforts to Fight Opioid Epidemic

(Manchester, NH) – Today, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) visited Catholic Medical Center (CMC), a not-for-profit full-service acute care hospital that has implemented several programs to help care for patients with substance misuse disorders. In just the last year, CMC has served more than 1,000 patients with substance use disorders in its 24-hour emergency department. Shaheen was joined by Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, Lisa Marsch, Director for the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Dr. William Goodman, CMC’s Medical Director, and Andrea Meier, Director of Operations of the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network.

“I commend Catholic Medical Center for their outstanding coordination with first responders and recovery centers to provide substance misuse treatment to those who desperately need it,” said Shaheen. “Over the past year, I have visited treatment centers all across New Hampshire. Like Catholic Medical Center, they are staffed by skilled, dedicated treatment professionals who are saving lives every day. The Affordable Care Act, and Medicaid expansion in particular, has been a critical tool in New Hampshire’s fight against the opioid epidemic, securing access to treatment for nearly 11,000 people struggling with substance use disorders. The House bill to repeal Obamacare, and President Trump’s budget would have catastrophic impacts in New Hampshire, jeopardizing the hard-won gains we have made in fighting the opioid epidemic. In the Senate, I’m fighting these ill-advised efforts because New Hampshire can’t afford to lose ground in the battle to end this epidemic – too many lives are at stake.”

Shaheen recently held a press conference outlining how the Trump administration’s budget would cut or eliminate many vital programs in New Hampshire, including those important to the fight against the opioid epidemic. This includes cuts to Medicaid by as much as $1.4 trillion over the next ten years. Medicaid provides coverage for 186,033 Granite Staters. The budget would also cut the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) by $373 million. SAMHSA programs aim to prevent substance misuse at the state and regional levels.