By: dfitzgerald
![](https://healthlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/img_1496338456.jpg)
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Executive Summary
Medicaid is the largest source of health care coverage for individuals with substance use disorders, NHeLP Staff Attorney Héctor Hernández-Delgado writes in this month’s “Health Advocate.” He details how slashing Medicaid funding, as proposed in the so-called American Health Care Act (AHCA), would result in millions of individuals losing SUD treatment. “Medicaid is essential in reducing the impact of the opioid epidemic,” Hernández-Delgado writes. “Capping Medicaid’s federal funding will significantly reduce the funding states receive for their programs and will lead many states to limit Medicaid eligibility of adults with SUD and to cut coverage of SUD services. States may also seek to impose burdensome cost utilization controls, which will further restrict access to life-saving SUD medication and services for low-income adults.”