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On Thursday, the Senate approved the reauthorization of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention That Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act.
Earlier this year the Council shared a letter with the regional delegation outlining how critical the SUPPORT Act has been in addressing the mental and physical challenges facing our region, and emphasized that reauthorizing and expanding upon the SUPPORT Act is essential for bolstering the comprehensive federal response to the opioid crisis. First enacted in 2018, the SUPPORT Act provides funding for community-based treatment and recovery programs, and also required Medicaid to cover medications for opioid use disorder.
The SUPPORT Act reauthorization, which now heads the President's desk, includes:
- Increased training and resources for first responders and other essential community members on how to use life-saving overdose reversal drugs, like naloxone and how to connect people to treatment
- Significant funding for training and recruitment for health care workers who want to work in mental health, addiction medicine, and related fields, including measures to expand student loan repayment for health care workers who focus on addiction medicine and recovery in underserved areas
- Funding to provide residential treatment for pregnant and postpartum women who need addiction treatment
- Expansion of access to fentanyl and xylazine test strips, a critical tool to help lower overdose deaths
- Funding for community organizations that help people stay in recovery over the long term, as well as those that help connect people in recovery to jobs
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