Turn the Tide Act

Bill: 117-s-1010
Sponsor: Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]
Introduced: 2021-03-25 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Alternative treatments
Appropriations
Child health
Congressional oversight
Crime prevention
Criminal procedure and sentencing
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Justice
Disability and health-based discrimination
Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
Drug therapy
Drug trafficking and controlled substances
Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
Education programs funding
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Employment and training programs
Executive agency funding and structure
Family services
First responders and emergency personnel
Government information and archives
Government lending and loan guarantees
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Health care quality
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Health promotion and preventive care
Health technology, devices, supplies
Higher education
Home and outpatient care
Hospital care
Housing and community development funding
Indian social and development programs
Infectious and parasitic diseases
Law enforcement administration and funding
Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
Medicaid
Medical education
Medical tests and diagnostic methods
Mental health
Minority health
Prescription drugs
Right of privacy
Rural conditions and development
Sex and reproductive health
Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations
State and local finance
State and local government operations
Student aid and college costs
Surgery and anesthesia
Teaching, teachers, curricula
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2021-03-25
text: 

Turn the Tide Act

 
This bill provides funding for various programs and activities to prevent, treat, and otherwise address substance use disorders. It also makes changes to insurance coverage for substance use disorders.
 
Specifically, the bill provides funding for
 
 
training and other support for students, health care providers, and others in the substance use disorder workforce;
 
prescription drug take-back programs;
 
surveillance and public health activities to detect and respond to substance use issues;
 
treatment and recovery services, including for specified populations;
 
housing services for individuals in treatment and recovery;
 
drug treatment courts, peer mentoring and wellness support in law enforcement agencies, and other criminal justice activities; and
 
drug-free community coalitions.
 
 
In addition, the bill modifies insurance coverage for substance use disorder drugs and treatments by
 
 
prohibiting prior authorizations and other utilization control policies for medication-assisted treatments under Medicaid and private insurance plans, and
 
requiring Medicare drug plans and private insurance plans to offer at least one opioid reversal drug without cost-sharing.
 
 
Furthermore, the bill increases Medicaid payment rates for mental and behavioral health services and requires the federal government to cover the costs of this increase. Additionally, the bill requires that non-opioid treatment options associated with surgery be reimbursed separately, instead of on a packaged basis, under Medicare.
 
The bill also extends certain Medicaid waivers for delivery reform incentive payments for states that have high rates of drug overdose deaths.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2021-03-25
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2021-03-25
text: Introduced in Senate