Want To Fight Heroin Crisis In New Jersey? Expand Obamacare, Study Says

If New Jersey Governor Chris Christie truly wants to deliver on his promise to combat opioid addiction in the Garden State, he should do everything in his power to advocate for the expansion of Obamacare, a recent study claims.

During 2015, about 16.3 out of every 100,000 New Jersey residents died as a result of drug-related overdoses, according to a study from the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released Tuesday.

However, at the same time, many Garden State residents have also gained access to substance abuse treatment through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, according to the CBPP.

Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults has allowed millions of people with substance use disorders to get health coverage and access to treatment services, according to a 2016 report from the U.S. Surgeon General.

The failed Republican replacement plan for Obamacare – the American Health Care Act (AHCA) – would have threatened these gains by effectively ending the Medicaid expansion and capping and cutting Medicaid funding, in addition to other provisions that would have weakened individual and small-group-market coverage and affordability, according to the CBPP.

• See related article: Health Care Law: Obamacare Wins, Trumpcare Loses

The bill would have left 24 million more people uninsured and shifted hundreds of billions in costs to states, including those that have been hit disproportionately by the opioid epidemic, the CBPP stated.

If the ACHA passed, it would have potentially cut $48 billion from New Jersey’s federal Medicaid funding, a whopping 20 percent decrease, the CBPP stated.

See the full study and its methodology here.

“Repealing the Affordable Care Act would make it much harder for Gov. Christie to deliver on his promise to fight the growing problem of opioid addiction, since most repeal proposals - including the recently failed House bill - would severely cut Medicaid, one of the primary sources of funding for treatment,” said New Jersey Policy Perspective Director of Health Ray Castro.

“Given that 16 out of 100,000 people in New Jersey died from an overdose in 2015, it is more important than ever that the governor join most of the Republican members of the New Jersey congressional delegation and some Republican governors to oppose capping and reducing funding for Medicaid and phasing out the Medicaid expansion,” Castro said.

• See related article: Every Ocean County High School Now Equipped With Narcan
• See related article: These 64 N.J. Hospitals Could Be Hurt Worst By Obamacare Repeal
• See related article: New Jersey Senator Discusses The 'Human Cost' Of Obamacare Repeal (VIDEO)

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Photo: Flickr Commons, Nathan Forget