Shaheen Challenges Secretary Price on Cuts to Programs Critical to Fighting the Opioid Epidemic in New Hampshire
**Republicans’ healthcare repeal bill and the administration’s budget request make deep cuts to the Medicaid program and mental health and substance misuse disorder treatment**
**SHAHEEN: “What do you tell people who are in recovery, who are getting treatment, about what they should do when you cut off those Medicaid payments that are their sole means of getting help for their substance use disorders?”**
Watch Clip of Sen. Shaheen’s Questioning Here
(Washington DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS), challenged Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on proposed cuts to the Medicaid program and mental health and substance misuse disorder treatment through the Republican healthcare repeal bill and the Trump administration’s FY2018 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services. During her questioning, Shaheen said that New Hampshire is just beginning to see progress in combating the opioid epidemic thanks to the bipartisan expansion of Medicaid, which has helped Granite Staters with substance use disorders gain access to treatment and recovery services.
The Republicans’ healthcare repeal bill and the administration’s budget make cuts to many programs that are critical to New Hampshire’s opioid response, including nearly a $1.4 trillion cut to Medicaid over the next ten years and a $373 million cut to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Shaheen also addressed the Republican’s healthcare repeal bill and the budget’s proposal to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, which serves 12,000 women in New Hampshire. Shaheen said, “If Planned Parenthood centers are providing good coverage for people, why do you want to shut them down?... In New Hampshire there is overwhelming public support for those Planned Parenthood centers and I think that’s true across the country.”
