Paul Tonko: “This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill…”

“This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. For more than a year and a half, Republicans in the House have been engaged in an all-out ideological assault to weaken healthcare for Americans by working to repeal the Affordable Care Act and gutting protections for preexisting conditions. Republicans have repeatedly voted to strip Medicaid coverage for millions struggling with addiction. Thanks to Republican policies, we are seeing this uninsured rate rise sharply for the first time in years. This attack on our healthcare has had serious consequences for our ability to adequately address the needs of those struggling with the opioid epidemic. I remind my friends that we can't have it both ways: We either are for fighting this epidemic every way we can, or we are not. I have seen the carnage this epidemic can produce in my own backyard, where my hometown of Amsterdam, New York, with a population of a little over 18,000 people, saw four overdose deaths and a dozen close calls within a single month. We know that, as of today, less than 20 percent of Americans who need substance abuse treatment are able to receive it. We need to move toward a system of treatment on demand so that, when an individual has that moment of clarity, we are ready with a helping hand to pull them away from the deadly grip of addiction.…”