Bill > SCR85

Introduced Session

This concurrent resolution respectfully requests the President and Congress of the United States to take action amending the provisions in the Medicaid program which prohibit federal reimbursement for certain in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation and treatment programs for individuals who are afflicted with substance use disorder. Since the inception of the Medicaid program in 1965, prohibitions have existed on the federal funding of services which are provided in an Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD), referred to as the IMD exclusion. As substance use disorder is classified as a mental disease, certain programs that provide in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation and treatment services for individuals who are afflicted with substance use disorder are not eligible for federal Medicaid reimbursement. The federal Medicaid program has taken certain steps to permit states to be reimbursed for services provided to individuals who are afflicted with substance use disorder and receiving treatment in an IMD, such as permitting states to apply for a waiver from the traditional Medicaid program requesting permission to expand services available for substance use disorder treatment and rehabilitation. However, the waiver review process can be quite lengthy and, once approved, waivers are limited in duration. The President and Congress of the United States could take certain actions to ameliorate these problems by modifying certain Medicaid provisions. Examples of these potential actions include, repealing the IMD exclusion, excluding substance use disorder from the definition of mental disease for the purposes of determining if a treatment facility is an IMD, and increasing the bed limit of the IMDs.

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Shirley Turner (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 02/05/2024)

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