In the News

SPRINGFIELD -- U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, met with local law enforcement, addiction treatment and health care officials this week to discuss how federal lawmakers can better help address the opioid crisis -- an epidemic which has claimed more than 300 lives in Hampden County since 2015. 

Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, briefed Hampden County Addiction Task Force members Wednesday on legislation he is pushing to expand coverage of opioid treatment programs and medication-assisted treatment. 

The congressman also fielded questions and concerns from task force members, as well as offered possible legislative solutions during the panel's afternoon meeting. 

Offering that nearly everyone knows someone struggling with addiction, Neal said he believes local, state and federal officials all have a "vested interest" in addressing the opioid crisis. 

One step Congress can take, he argued, is to reduce treatment barriers in federal health care programs, like Medicare and Medicaid.

Neal pointed to a bill package, which cleared the U.S. House earlier this summer, as an example of how Congress can help in the fight against opioid abuse.

That measure, among many things, proposes: Expanding Medicare's coverage of opioid treatment programs and medication-assisted treatment; requiring that all state Medicaid programs cover medication-assisted treatment for five years; and allowing some providers to offer medication-assisted treatment to more patients. 

The congressman, who offered standalone legislation last fall to require that Medicare cover methadone and other outpatient forms of medication-assisted treatment, said the proposal sprung, in part, from his belief that addiction should be looked at as a health problem.

"The idea is to treat addiction as a health issue -- a health-related issue. The idea was, that for those that have insurance, to make sure that they're covered, but for those who don't have health insurance, to mandate ... that assistance," he told task force members. 

Neal, who is up for re-election this fall, said he's confident the U.S. Senate will take up the bill package by the end of the year.

"I can't imagine anyone not being in favor of extending Medicare to cover people with opiate addictions who are 65 and over ... I think (the Senate's) going to do it," he said in an interview. 

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, who convened the task force in June 2016, lauded federal efforts to address opioid abuse, offering that the congressman's proposal "is going to have an impact across the country and Hampden County," if signed into law.

"I think one of the things most principally that the legislation does is it characterizes (addiction) as a public health issue and as a disease so those who are on Medicaid and Medicare can have those treatments paid for ... as opposed to coming out of their pocket, which is obviously something that would prevent, if not completely discourage, someone from seeking the treatment to get well and be sober," he said in an interview.

Gulluni, however, acknowledged that "there's more work to be done" at all levels to end the opioid epidemic. That, the DA said, is why he hopes the task force will continue to look at solutions in the years ahead. 

"This is still at epidemic levels," he said. "There's still dozens of people of dying from overdoses on a daily basis. There's a critical need and there's a lot more to be done. So, the work that the congressman has to do at the federal level, the work that I have to do, the work that people across the spectrum of working on addiction and recovery have a lot more work to do. There's no question. But we're doing it and we're doing our best to save lives." 

Beyond focusing on the federal legislation, which passed the House on a 396 to 14 vote in June, the task force also discussed challenges in recruiting and retaining addiction treatment professionals, past failures with educational programs, employment barriers for those in recovery and law enforcement response.

According to Massachusetts Department of Public Health estimates, nearly 16,000 people died in the state from opioid-related overdoses between 2000 and 2017, including 1,023 in Hampden County alone. 

Of those deaths, more than 2,000 came in 2017 -- up from 379 in 2000.