Ohio U.S. Senators back bill expanding treatment options for babies born addicted

Ohio’s two U.S. senators are introducing a bill aimed at helping newborns born addicted recover in a supportive setting (Source: “Ohio lawmakers reintroduce bill aimed at treating babies born addicted,” Columbus Dispatch, May 18, 2017).

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Repubican Sen. Rob Portman, along with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. and Angus King, I-Maine, have reintroduced a bill that would allow Medicaid to cover pediatric drug addiction recovery services in both hospitals and residential pediatric recovery facilities.

The bill - which sponsors say will lower Medicaid costs - would allow babies suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome - or withdrawal - to receive care in residential facilities. The syndrome is a withdrawal condition often caused by use of opioids and other addictive substances in pregnant women.

In the House, Reps. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, Mike Turner, R-Dayton and Reps. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., have introduced a companion bill. Among the facilities currently treating babies born with withdrawal is Brigid’s Path, in Dayton.

Traditionally, babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome have been treated in the neonatal intensive care unit, where treatment costs are more than five times the cost of treating other newborns. The lawmakers say that the NICU — with its bright lights and loud noises — is not the ideal place for babies suffering from withdrawal. Residential pediatric recovery facilities, they argue, offer an alternative more conducive to treating newborns with the syndrome.