Senate Finance Committee Advances Opioid Legislation

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday voted to unanimously approve, as amended, the Helping to End Addiction and Lessen (HEAL) Substance Use Disorders Act. The legislation would require Medicare and Medicaid to provide beneficiaries better education, prevention, management and treatment options for pain and addiction; increase Medicare beneficiary awareness of non-opioid alternative treatments; increase treatment for substance use disorder; improve tracking of opioid prescriptions under Medicare Part D; expand and clarify Medicaid’s options for treating beneficiaries with substance use disorder; and improve data used to evaluate treatments for opioid use disorder. AHA yesterday voiced support for certain provisions in the bill.
Related News Articles
Headline
The Food and Drug Administration July 31 announced that it is requiring safety label changes to all opioid pain medications to further emphasize and explain…
Headline
The Senate Appropriations Committee July 31 advanced the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services,…
Chairperson's File
The recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act will bring big changes to health care. AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack joined me for a Leadership Dialogue…
Chairperson's File
This month Congress enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — a sweeping package that contained many of President Trump’s legislative priorities on taxes,…
Headline
The AHA July 2 expressed support for the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act (H.R. 3890), bipartisan legislation that would add 14,000 Medicare-funded…
Headline
The House July 3 voted 218-214 to pass the final version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), which enacts many of President Trump’s legislative…