Rep. Turner’s bipartisan effort to make opioid addiction treatment more accessible will save lives.
This morning Congressman Mike Turner joined America’s Newsroom on Fox News with anchors Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino to discuss President Biden's decision to reverse a policy under President Trump that would make a drug that treats opioid addiction more widely available.
“This is just one of those examples where the Biden administration is just trying to overturn everything the Trump administration has done… This is one [of Trump’s policies] that will save lives and save our families,” Congressman Mike Turner stated.
Anita Kitchen, founder and Executive Director of Families of Addicts in Dayton Ohio, discussed her support for the Congressman’s legislation and called for President Biden to reverse the policy.
“This bill Biden reversed is putting restrictions on getting the medication they [opioid abusers] need so they don’t overdose…these are our next-door neighbors, these are our family members, our loved ones…This doesn’t just effect tone person, this effects their entire family,” said Kitchen.
The Congressman was also joined by doctor Dr. Mark Rosenberg, the President of the American College of Physicians, a group that supports the Congressman’s bipartisan efforts on this issue.
“This drug has saved more lives and gotten more people out of withdrawal and prevented them from seeking more opioids than any other treatment that we’ve ever seen.” said Dr. Rosenberg. “To make this drug more widely available is critically important to fight the large number of opioid deaths.”
Current law constricts physicians' ability to prescribe Buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction, and in doing so, limits access to millions of Americans who desperately need help. According to According to the HHS, over 40% of counties in the U.S. do not a have a physician who is licensed to prescribe this lifesaving treatment option.
A National Institutes of Health study showed France's opioid overdose deaths declined by nearly 80 percent over a four-year period after France took similar measures to make buprenorphine prescriptions possible without a waiver.
HHS under the Trump Administration stated it would update its guidelines to exempt physicians from the X-waiver, a requirement mandated by Congress in 2000 that requires physicians to receive a day’s training before they can prescribe buprenorphine, a drug that treats opioid addiction and chronic pain. Before he was elected, President Biden supported this. However, since President Biden took office he has retracted this.
Congressman Turner, as the lead House Republican, has been working with Congressman Tonko to draft and reintroduce the MAT Act for the 117th Congress. Turner recently sent a letter to President Biden urging him to support this bill that would make it easier for physicians to prescribe buprenorphine.
Watch his interview on America's Newsroom here.