In this opinion piece, Sonia Canzater, an associate at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, discusses the FY2017 budget proposal and what she says is missing. The White House released the proposed budget for fiscal year 2017 on Feb. 9 that includes a $5 million funding increase to the CDC and a $9 million increase to HRSA to support viral hepatitis prevention and treatment initiatives, with an emphasis on addressing the Hepatitis C epidemic. The $5 million at CDC will fund increased efforts to stop the spread of Hepatitis C in young people, reduce viral hepatitis deaths, and reduce mother-to-child transmission of Hepatitis B and C. The $9 million in increased funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program at HRSA will support a new initiative to treat those co-infected with both Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV.
The budget also includes a proposal for $1.1 billion to pay for drug treatment for people addicted to opioid medications or heroin. This is in response to the exponential increase in opioid addiction rates and heroin overdose deaths seen in the last decade. The plan seeks to support expanding treatment capacity for opioid abuse, and increase access to these services to more people by making the services more affordable. It also includes $500 million for the Department of Justice and HHS to improve prescription-drug overdose prevention strategies, which includes increasing access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone.
Prescription opioid drug abuse has become a significant health problem in this country over the past 10 years. The government has addressed the liberal prescribing of these drugs by enacting stricter limitations and accountability to providers. However, these restrictions had the unfortunate side effect of causing many of those addicted to painkillers to start abusing heroin, because it provides a similar effect and was easier to obtain following the government crackdown.
At first glance, these budget requests do not seem to have a direct link to one another. However, there is a significant correlation between the Hepatitis C and opioid abuse epidemics that has been overlooked in these budget proposals, and indicates a missed opportunity by the government to concurrently provide funding to address both of these public health concerns.
Continue reading Sonia Canzater's opinion by clicking here.
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