Limiting Medicaid Coverage For Addiction Will Spread HIV/AIDS

New York State’s drug-treatment programs may be limited in the number of visits a patient can make per year. Gov. Pataki’s administration blames Medicaid abuse for the changes and hopes to limit drug-treatment services to 65 outpatient visits and 75 rehabilitation visits. The New York Post reports: “An outpatient service provider determined by the office to have provided excessive services to patients shall have its operating certificate suspended or revoked,” the rules prepared by the state office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services say. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (SAMHSA) reported in 2003 that 1,118 drug rehabilitation and addiction treatment centers in New York. These centers combined to serve 128,904 clients for alcohol and/or drug abuse problems. This translates into many addicts who will be negatively affected by this proposed amendment. For example, many recovering heroine addicts attend Medicaid-covered methadone treatment daily, and the rules would limit methadone treatment to two months. What if a client relapses and needs further drug-treatment? What if a rehabilitation service such as detoxification is needed? Some patients need from 6 months to a year to even begin to think of drug abstinence. I don’t want to get into all the correlations, roots causes, and ideological and political battles regarding addiction, but, what I do know is that, even when self-determination and self-responsible are important factors to be instilled, the forces-that-be create living experiences for vulnerable populations that cannot be solved by cutting programs and criminalizing patients very access to services. This new amendment prevents addicts from receiving the treatment they need and uses language that criminally blames Medicaid abuse on addicts. Without drug-treatment as a long-term no-limit service, more addicts will relapse, more addicts will be on the streets without education and strategies to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, and more addicts will spread the virus. Here at Housing Works we believe the Harm Reduction model saves the most lives and statistics back this up. That’s why we advocate for free access to condoms and needle exchange programs. It may not be the ideological solution, but it prevents the spread of HIV/AIDS. It is practical, non-judgmental, and gets results. The New York State government says it will save millions of dollars if these cuts are implemented. From an economic standpoint, New York State should consider a harm reduction/prevention philosophy when considering the Medicaid cuts to drug-treatment, because if they don’t, they will be paying a lot more down the road. And you better believe you will be paying too. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.