WASHINGTON – This week Reps. Ron Estes (R-Kansas) and Jimmy Panetta (D-California) introduced H.R. 8908 – the Fighting Stimulant and Other Substance Use Disorders Act – as part of a larger mental health package in the House Ways and Means Committee.
“In Kansas and throughout the country, mental health continues to ravage families and communities, and it’s tragically getting worse,” said Rep. Estes during today’s Ways and Means Committee legislative markup. “Doctors and nurses are doing everything they can to help struggling patients, but they also need common sense policies from Washington that will help the crisis – not make it worse. Our common sense legislation tasks Health and Human Services to review evidence-based contingency management incentives so that we can remove a barrier that’s shutting out patients from an effective treatment while also ensuring safeguards against fraud and abuse.”
“Many in our communities face addiction and mental health challenges. Unfortunately, the current substance abuse and mental health treatments are inadequate for millions of patients and their families across our country,” said Rep. Panetta. “The Fighting Stimulant and Other Substance Use Disorders Act addresses this shortcoming by allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to consider contingency management intervention, which is a proven tool to incentivize drug and mental health treatment by rewarding patients for recovery milestones. This science-based bill will provide communities like mine on the central coast of California with the tools and resources that they need to overcome addiction so that they can lead fuller and more productive lives.”
Earlier this year, Rep. Estes questioned a witness during a Ways and Means hearing on mental health where she expressed her support for contingency management therapy as an effective treatment for individuals suffering from stimulant and other substance use disorders. Federal law prohibits federal funds from being used for contingency management treatment, leaving Medicare and Medicaid participants without access to this care. The Fighting Stimulant and Other Substance Use Disorders Act directs the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to review contingency management therapy.
Watch Rep. Estes’ remarks.
Full Transcript:
In Kansas and throughout the country, mental health continues to ravage families and communities, and it’s tragically getting worse. In August I sat down with hospital administrators to discuss what they are facing in our urban and rural hospitals. Not surprisingly, the state of America’s mental health is one of the main concerns. Across big cities and small towns, Americans are struggling with anxiety and depression – which has been fueled by stimulants and other substance use disorders. Doctors and nurses are doing everything they can to help struggling patients, but they also need common sense policies from Washington that will help the crisis – and not make things worse.
So today, we have an opportunity to address an aspect of this crisis through a bill I’ve introduced with a friend and colleague, Congressman Panetta – the Fighting Stimulant and Other Substance Use Disorders Act.
A report from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation has found that “The price for purchasing methamphetamine on the street drastically dropped from 2014 to 2019 due to the increased production and importation of Mexican methamphetamine.” The latest numbers from my state show the horrible toll this has had – meth accounts for almost 44% of overdose deaths in Kansas. And we’ve also heard our law enforcement sound alarm bells over the rise in crime linked with drugs – particularly with meth. In Sedgwick County where I live, it’s reported that 70% of all drug crimes involve meth.
While there is medication-assisted treatment for those addicted to opioids, resources are scarce for those struggling with methamphetamines and other stimulant addiction.
Earlier this year during a Ways and Means hearing, a witness told us, “We do have contingency management, which is behavioral therapy proven to work for stimulant use disorder – for cocaine and methamphetamines – vastly underutilized in all of our communities across the country. So yes, we need more tools, and yes, we need to actually use the tools that our researchers and clinicians and scientists have already built for us.” She went on to address the barriers to contingency management, one of which is the prohibition of using federal funds for the treatment, locking out Medicaid and Medicare patients from accessing this potentially life-saving resource.
Our common sense legislation will task Health and Human Services to review evidence-based contingency management incentives so that we can remove a barrier that’s shutting out patients from an effective treatment while also ensuring safeguards against fraud and abuse. This is an opportunity to help individuals in each of our communities, and I would encourage my colleagues to support this life-saving bill.
