Critics say GOP Medicaid cuts could slash fentanyl addiction treatment

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2019, photo, Jon Combes holds his bottle of buprenorphine, a medicine that prevents withdrawal sickness in people trying to stop using opiates, as he prepares to take a dose in a clinic in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

As Republican lawmakers search for deep spending cuts, a growing number of critics fear a roll-back of Medicaid dollars spent helping Americans slammed by the street fentanyl crisis.

report released Monday by Democrats on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee warned medical treatment for more than a million people in the U.S. now receiving medical treatment for opioid addiction, including fentanyl, could be affected.

“President Trump and Congressional Republicans have proposed gutting Medicaid— in order to pay for tax breaks for corporate special interests and billionaires — which would jeopardize addiction care just as our country is finally starting to see progress in addressing the fentanyl crisis,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, in a statement.