[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 163 (Tuesday, October 2, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6435-S6436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Opioid Epidemic
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, everyone in this Chamber knows how bad the
opioid crisis is. In Ohio, based on the averages, 11 people died
yesterday, 11
[[Page S6436]]
people will die today, and 11 people will die tomorrow from a drug
overdose. We have a long way to go to fight this, but right now, we are
taking an important step to get resources to communities, doing
innovative work, and tearing down the redtape regulations that prevent
people from getting treatment.
This week we will pass a comprehensive package of legislation to
fight addiction. Several of these bills are important to Ohio.
I worked with my Republican colleague from West Virginia, Senator
Capito, on a bipartisan CRIB Act to support treatment centers for
babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome, like Brigid's Path in Dayton,
Lily's Place in Huntington that serves people across the river in
Lawrence County, OH, and elsewhere.
Brigid's Path in Ohio is one of just two residential treatment
centers like this in the country. Again, Huntington, WV, on the Ohio
River, across the river from Ohio, and Brigid's Path in Dayton are the
only two of these in the country.
I am meeting in my office tomorrow with folks from Brigid's Path to
talk with them about the important work they are doing in our State.
NAS is caused by the use of opioids or other addictive substances
during pregnancy. It has become a growing challenge for families and
healthcare providers in States like Ohio.
Recent studies show that cases of NAS have tripled over the past
decade. Right now, babies are usually treated in the neonatal intensive
care unit, known as NICUs--the neonatal intensive care unit--where
treatment costs are five times the cost of treating other newborns, but
given the relative bright lights and the relative loud noises in
neonatal units, the NICU is not always the best place for newborns
struggling with withdrawal. They are even more sensitive to noise and
light than other premature babies that might be in a NICU.
Residential pediatric recovery facilities like Brigid's Path can give
these infants specialized care as well as bringing the mothers and the
families in for counseling in a setting outside the chaos of a
hospital. So while they are treating the newborn baby, they also have
opportunities with some wraparound services to treat the addicted
mothers so mother and child and others in the family can have a normal,
healthy life.
These unique venues are relatively new. The CRIB Act will allow them
to bill Medicaid for the services they offer. The CRIB Act, Brigid's
Path in Dayton, OH, and the Huntington program are not eligible for
Medicaid because they are neither a doctor nor a hospital. So this bill
will make them eligible for Medicaid and will save millions of dollars.
As more of these facilities like Brigid's Path and Lily's Place are
formed around the country, we will be saving millions and millions of
Medicaid dollars. Instead of going to the more expensive, less-
effective neonatal intensive care unit, they are going to Brigid's Path
and other places like that.
As I said, the CRIB Act will allow them to bill Medicaid for their
services, expanding options for care for the thousands of babies who
need specialized treatment. Unfortunately, thousands of babies are born
to addicted mothers.
This package will also do some other things that matter. It will lift
the cap on the number of beds at Medicaid-funded treatment facilities
for 5 years, something Senator Portman and I have worked on for a long
time. My colleague from Ohio, in the opposite party from me, has been
working on opioid issues for some time, and this is one of the issues
on which we worked together.
The bill includes Senator Portman's STOP Act that I supported and
that will work with my INTERDICT Act that Senator Portman and others
supported, that was signed into law by the White House several months
ago, that will help keep illegal fentanyl, a synthetic substance much
more toxic and powerful than heroin, and something called carfentanil
off the streets.
We know we have more work to do to fight this crisis. We need more
resources in our communities in Ohio. This package is a bipartisan step
forward. I hope we can get this to the President's desk and signed into
law soon.
One sort of editorial comment also. I was a fairly young kid when I
first started hearing about this, and we all know about this. In the
mid-1960s--a huge number of Americans smoked tobacco--the U.S. Surgeon
General first brought to the public's attention that smoking caused
people's life expectancy, lifespans, to be considerably shorter because
of all the illnesses coming from smoking. In one of the great success
stories in public health in the last half century, the Federal
Government worked together with local health officials, physicians,
nurses, hospitals, cancer societies, the American Heart Association,
and others--starting with warnings on cigarette packs and all the
things we do now--and the rate of smoking in this country considerably
dropped from what it was in the mid-1960s.
Our country, led by the Federal Government in many cases--and people
can say what they want about the government, but the Federal Government
led the way on tobacco, on that public health initiative against
tobacco. We can help lead the way, and we can work with local
communities in addressing this terrible public health affliction of
opioid addiction. It will matter to the next many generations if we do
this right.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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