On Thursday, March 5th starting at 1pm the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs will be holding a public hearing concerning the Governor's biennial budget proposal, with a focus on provisions that would strip MaineCare reimbursement for methadone maintenance therapy (MMT)!
We need your help to make sure that this provision does NOT reach the governor's desk! The legislature needs to hear exactly how disastrous these cuts would be for public health and the people of Maine.
Oral testimony has the biggest impact. If you're able to free up your schedule, please join us at the State House in Augusta next Thursday afternoon!
In particular the Appropriations Committee needs to hear from:
- Service organizations that provide services to people that will be impacted by these cuts, that can speak to the consequences of these cuts.
- People in long term recovery that have a dramatic success story demonstrating the effectiveness of MMT, or close family.
To date MMT has the largest evidence base of effectiveness as an opioid treatment methodology. It is one of the most important tools in the harm reduction/recovery toolkit. One that we cannot afford to lose!
These cuts would lead to dramatically increased relapse rates and associated increases in overdose deaths, HIV/Hep C transmission and other common drug-related health and psychosocial issues.
The hearing will be held on Thursday, March 5 starting at 1pm in room 228 of the State House in Augusta. Signups for the 1pm hearing will begin at noon. However, we are expecting a lot of testimony, so be certain to be early in order and get in line!
Each person will be given 3 minutes to present testimony. Click here for guidance on submitting verbal testimony.
Written testimony can be sent to: [email protected]
Whether you are planning to submit written testimony or be there in person, please let me know so that I can get a sense of how many harm reductionists we have at the hearing!
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2015-03-05 16:00:00
Addiction Advocacy | Stop LePage from Killing Mainecare Reimbursement for MMT
Maine Harm Reduction Alliance (MEHRA) Advocacy Alert to testify on Thursday, March 5th starting at 1pm against Paul Lepage's budget proposal stripping MaineCare reimbursement for methadone maintenance therapy (MMT).
Maine State House
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