LAC Responds to HHS’ Renewal of the Opioid Public Health Emergency and Highlights Need for Increased Funding to Achieve Its Goals

The administration's ongoing recognition of this crisis and the decision to extend the emergency declaration are vital, but without adequate resources, individuals, families, and communities nationwide will face even more devastating impacts and loss of life than our nation is already suffering.

Nearly 300 Americans continue to die every day from this crisis, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive public health responses. Staffing reductions and any funding cuts at SAMHSA, as well as potential cuts in Medicaid funding are antithetical to Secretary Kennedy's declaration of "the Administration's commitment to addressing the opioid overdose crisis."

Paul N. Samuels, LAC's Director and President says, "Clearly, we are not out of this crisis, as the HHS Secretary recognizes in his extension of the public health emergency, and SAMHSA and Medicaid are indispensable to the effort to combat addiction and overdose. SAMHSA staff hold critical expertise and knowledge about how to effectively prevent, treat, and promote recovery for people with substance use issues, which we cannot afford to lose. Likewise, good access to Medicaid and sufficient funding are crucial to ensuring access to care for all substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder, making expanding-not reducing-Medicaid essential."

Teresa Miller, LAC's National Director of Health Initiatives adds, "Medicaid is the single largest funder of substance use treatment services, relied upon by millions of Americans nationwide. Limiting access to this lifeline program would only further undermine efforts to stem the crisis. Substance use disorder treatment works, so we need to ensure that care and supports are affordable and accessible to all who need it."

"Additionally, it is important that HHS and the CDC continue to collect and report data on subpopulations that are disproportionately affected by the crisis. While the national overdose death rate decreased between 2022 and 2023, it rose in certain states, age groups, and specific racial and ethnic communities, namely among Black and Indigenous people. Thus, it is essential that targeted efforts are made to reduce overdose deaths in these groups, and that data collection informs tailored interventions," explains Deborah Steinberg, LAC Sr. Health Policy Attorney.

"Bottom line: ending the overdose crisis requires significant federal investment to strengthen and expand the national system of community-based harm reduction and substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Many communities, especially in rural areas, still face a severe shortage of qualified addiction treatment providers, making it even more critical to increase support for these lifesaving services. Furthermore, strengthening the existing workforce, as well as ensuring that the broader health care system develops greater expertise in all of the effective health responses to substance use are essential to helping people stay alive and become and remain well," says Gabrielle de la Guéronnière, LAC's VP of Health and Justice.

LAC urges HHS to focus its response to the overdose crisis with a comprehensive health-first, data-driven, and community-inclusive approach, while ensuring that resources are allocated to the critical services and support systems that are integral to saving lives.

###

Media Contact:
Arianne Keegan
Director of Communications, Legal Action Center
communications@lac.org
(212) 243-1313

###