The House is expected to adjourn after this week until after the mid-term elections, and are looking to cross one more item off their to-do list before they leave town.

The House passed the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act (H.R. 6) back in June, and the Senate passed their version of opioid legislation last week. The Senate package of 70 bills, the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, spends $8.4 billion over five years and extends across many agencies as it hopes to address the public health emergency at hand. Unfortunately, the funding is not enough to make a significant impact – and some experts say tens of billions per year is actually needed to fund addiction treatment and other policies.

The House and Senate agreed to a compromise opioid packages, including one of the most expensive provisions, the IMD exclusion that the House’s bill partially overturned to cover cocaine and opioid treatments and the Senate left intact. The compromise lifts the Medicaid pay rule for five years by allowing states to cover inpatient services at treatment facilities with more than 16 beds for all substance use disorders.

Republicans are touting the opioid legislation as their health care achievement for the year, while Democrats are supporting the Affordable Care Act and maintaining pre-existing condition consumer protections.

Washington State recently received $21.5 million from the Department of Health & Human Services to reach more people experiencing opioid use disorder.