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Issue Brief #5: Health Care Reform—Expanding Access to Addiction Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services

First page of PDF with filename: brief5-20100603.pdf
  • Date
  • June 2010

The Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. On the heels of the Wellstone-Domenici Parity Act, health care reform provides an historic opportunity to expand access to addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, by 2019 when the law is fully implemented, 95 percent of the documented eligible population will have health insurance. The new law will extend insurance to about 32 million residents who are currently uninsured.

The new law includes several provisions to address the addiction treatment gap:

  • Addiction treatment included in the basic benefit package.
  • Parity requirements extend to all group and individual plans, as well as future health insurance exchanges.
  • Substance Use Disorders and Mental Health are included in chronic disease prevention initiatives.
  • Workforce development initiatives to include a focus on addiction treatment services.

Read more

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