Senate Dems call GOP health bill a 'death sentence' for addicts as House highlights unity

Herb Jackson | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: MacArthur and Norcross say fight against opioids is bipartisan Reps. Tom MacArthur, R-Ocean County, and Donald Norcross, D-Camden County, at a news conference of the House Bipartisan Heroin Task Force on June 27, 2107

Two South Jersey House members led a dozen colleagues on Tuesday in highlighting a bipartisan commitment to fight the opioid epidemic, just hours after Sen. Bob Menendez and a handful of fellow Democrats said a Republican bill to overhaul health insurance would be a "death sentence" for addicts.

Menendez and his colleagues denounced the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the bill Senate Republican leaders released last week to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, Leaders had hoped to approve the bill this week, but mounting opposition led them to postpone a vote until after next week's July 4th recess.

Menendez said the bill was "especially cruel" to addicts and their families because cuts and changes to Medicaid would reduce access to treatment and counseling. Menendez said he had applauded Republicans in recent months for coming to the Senate floor to call for action to address a a spike in addiction and overdoses.

Video: Menendez calls health cuts a 'death sentence' for addicts Sen. Bob Menendez, D-Paramus, says at a June 27, 2017 news conference that proposed cuts to Medicaid in a Republican-crafted health insurance bill would cut off treatment for opioid abuse and be a death sentence for addicts.

"You can't speak with passion and sometimes with tears about that and then vote for this," said Menendez, D-Paramus. "Ending Medicaid expansion, and Medicaid as we know it ... is just really for many people going to be a death sentence."

Medicaid, the joint federal-state program providing healthcare for the poor and disabled, was expanded under President Barack Obama to cover people with higher incomes, and states were given increased reimbursement if they allowed the expansion. That expansion would be scaled back under BCRA, and payments to states would later be capped for all Medicaid patients.

Menendez said the bill would reduce Medicaid funding to New Jersey by $30 billion over the coming decade. The bill does set aside $2 billion for grants to battle addiction, but Menendez called that amount "an insult to every community battling this epidemic" because it would only support programs for one year.

Similar concerns about the importance of Medicaid to fighting addictions were raised earlier this month by Democrats at a meeting of the opioid commission that Gov. Chris Christie was appointed to lead by President Donald Trump. A report of that commission is due soon.

But the issue was not raised at all when a dozen of the 90 members of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force held a news conference about their agenda. Members did talk about bipartisan support for making more treatment facilities eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, and to establish pediatric care centers within Medicaid focused on babies exposed to opioids during pregnancy.

Asked about the face of Medicaid, Rep. Anne McLane Kuster of New Hampshire, the Democratic chair of the task force, said the goal of the news conference was to highlight bills where there was bipartisan agreement.

"We don't agree on everything and I can only speak for the Democrats; We are very concerned about the impact of Medicaid," she said.

"We anticipated this would be a question," said Rep. Tom MacArthur of Ocean County, the Republican chairman. "I think the key is what Annie said; We do what we can do together. We're not going to agree on every issue."

He said, there was unity about "making sure there are adequate resources to deal with this. How we see that flowing may be different, but that is a commitment that we all share."

The bipartisan group's agenda calls for addressing a broad array of issues, including improving how veterans are treated and how customs detects fentanyl and synthetic opioids being smuggled into the country.

MacArthur said he has a bill to change the rules for health savings accounts so grandparents could pay for their grandchildren's recovery.

Rep. Donald Norcross of Camden County, the Democratic vice chairman of the task force, said addiction is an issue that cuts across party lines.

"This is a disease, this is not a moral deficiency," Norcross said. "It's not an urban issue, it's not a blue issue or a red issue."

Norcross and MacArthur are leaders on the task force, but they also could be political rivals in next year's Senate race, depending on how Menendez's trial on corruption charges goes in September.