In 2016, advocates for persons with mental illness and those dealing with addiction, including the NH Community Behavioral Health Association (CBHA), declared that Medicaid expansion was the most important proposal the NH General Court would consider that year. Last week, at a press conference in the Legislative Office Building, CBHA joined with the same advocates – as well as with representatives of business and industry – to reiterate the critical need for continuing expansion and to emphasize that New Hampshire needs to make the program permanent in 2023.
The expansion program — now called the Granite Advantage Health Care Program — ensures that many New Hampshire residents who need mental health care and substance abuse and addiction treatment can get access to services. But it is due to expire on Dec. 31 unless the Legislature passes a bill that reauthorizes it, and that action needs to take place before the session ends on June 30. While we are heartened by public statements of the governor and legislative leaders supporting Medicaid expansion, we need to reach all our lawmakers and emphasize how the program provides critical care to people in their communities.
New Hampshire’s opioid and substance use disorder crisis continues to be a major concern for all of us. The impact of untreated mental illness and addiction on the workplace is one reason that the business community so strongly supports reauthorization of the program this year. The NH Business and Industry Association’s recently issued “2023 Public Policy Priorities” includes this legislative priority item: “Support permanent reauthorization for expanded Medicaid.”
The Commission to Evaluate the Effectiveness and Future of the New Hampshire Granite Advantage Health Care Program — a 16-member commission established by statute in 2018 to provide oversight of Medicaid expansion — recently voted unanimously to recommend reauthorization of the program. The commission directed the Department of Health and Human Services to report the Mathematica Inc. findings about the program to key legislative committees in 2023 as they consider reauthorization, so they will see the numbers for themselves.
From its inception, this has been a uniquely New Hampshire program, using federal dollars to move the uninsured to the commercial market. Our governor and the majority of legislators have clearly seen the value and the cost-effectiveness of the program.
For the many individuals and families in this state who are dealing with mental health issues and addiction, the program is a lifeline. We need the Granite Advantage Health Care Program to be reauthorized and made permanent this year, because we need to keep moving forward as a state.
Christopher Kozak is president of Community Partners in Dover, a member of the New Hampshire Community Behavioral Health Association. He lives in Portsmouth.