Medicaid Reentry Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Medicaid Reentry Act, and I urge all Members to support its swift passage in the House.

This bill is about saving lives, pure and simple. 64,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2016, more than were lost at the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Based on data from the States, we can estimate that as many as 10,000 of those deaths annually are individuals who have had some interaction with the criminal justice system in the previous year. This is a national emergency that demands immediate action.

Individuals who are returning to society after a stay in a corrections facility are particularly vulnerable to overdose deaths. Research has found that formerly incarcerated individuals reentering society are 129 times more likely to die of an overdose during their first 2 weeks back into the community than the general population.

The risk of overdose is elevated during this period due to reduced physiological tolerance for opioids among the incarcerated population, a lack of effective addiction treatment options while incarcerated, and perhaps poor care transitions back into their given community.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, roughly 60 percent of our incarcerated population has a substance use disorder, yet only around one-quarter of those are receiving any type of treatment.

Even for those receiving treatment, out of the roughly 5,000 jails and prisons in our country, fewer than 40 provide medication-assisted addiction treatment using methadone or buprenorphine, which, along with naltrexone, is considered the gold standard in treating opioid use disorder.

Those that do offer full-scale MAT services are seeing results. I have seen firsthand the success of a MAT program called SHARP at the Albany County Correctional Facility in upstate New York where individuals shared anecdotes with me about how access to treatment has transformed their lives for the better.

We have seen even more compelling data from the State of Rhode Island, where a comprehensive addiction treatment program offering access to all FDA-approved forms of medication-assisted treatment in State corrections facilities was able to lower deaths in the first year post-release by a staggering 61 percent.

My legislation would open the door to more of these success stories and is designed to increase State flexibility in the Medicaid program to address the vulnerable population during the 30 days prior to an individual's release.

As amended, the Medicaid Reentry Act would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to release guidance to State Medicaid Directors on demonstration opportunities that would allow States to waive the current Medicaid inmate payment restriction during this prerelease period so that individuals could better access mental health and addiction care and have an improved care transition back into the community.

By passing this bill, we can allow States to expand innovative approaches to reentry that are already underway in places such as New York, Ohio, New Mexico, and Rhode Island.

I thank Energy and Commerce Chair Greg Walden and Ranking Member Pallone and their staffs for the constructive collaboration on this bill. I also thank my Republican colleague Representative Mike Turner for his efforts to help shine a light on this vulnerable population.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, while I would have liked to have gone even further with this effort, I believe that this smart-on-crime legislation will plant the seeds for meaningful change and will help to give individuals reentering society a fighting chance to live a healthier, drug-free life.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4005) to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to allow for medical assistance under Medicaid for inmates during the 30-day period preceding release from a public institution, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this bill, sponsored by Representative Tonko of New York, Representative Turner of Ohio, and myself, requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to convene a stakeholder group that will publish a report on best practices for how States can address the health considerations of incarcerated individuals as they transition back in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports that, in States such as Connecticut and Massachusetts, 60 to 70 percent of inmates are eligible for enrollment in Medicaid upon release.

According to 2002 data from the Department of Justice, about 68 percent of incarcerated individuals met the criteria for substance dependence or abuse.

This bill requires CMS to issue best practices for improving transitions back to the community, including systems for enrollment support, substance use treatment, and related services for individuals who are inmates of a public institution and who are eligible for Medicaid, and CMS has to do that within a year after this bill is enacted.

These best practices should help both Congress and the States get a handle on how to help these incarcerated individuals get back on their feet. That is our goal.

Mr. Speaker, my thanks to Mr. Tonko for his leadership on this issue, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers on this bill. I support it and encourage our colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I also endorse H.R. 4005, the Medicaid Reentry Act.

One particularly vulnerable population for overdose is individuals reentering society post-incarceration. Incarcerated individuals, as my colleague, Mr. Tonko, indicated, are far more likely to suffer from substance use disorder. And without proper transition planning and treatment, former inmates are at extremely high risk of dying from an overdose after release. This legislation seeks to get at that problem.

Mr. Speaker, over the course of the hearings we have had on all of these bills, there has not been a more dedicated, poignant, or powerful speaker than Mr. Tonko. This is an issue that he cares passionately about and that he has dedicated much of his time in Congress addressing. He has put that effort into text in this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the House to adopt it, and I yield back the balance of my time.