by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — While overdose-related deaths in Connecticut are on the decline — the number dropped last year to 982, a 26% reduction from 2023 and the third straight annual decrease — that progress is under threat, according to many who work to prevent such deaths.
Under the Republican tax-and-spend bill that passed the US Senate on Tuesday, the proposed cuts to Medicaid would mean that thousands of people could lose the recovery and prevention services they rely on.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the decreasing number of fatalities was a positive sign but stressed that there is no reason to celebrate.
“For three years in a row, overdose fatalities have diminished. That’s good news,” he said. “But that progress is very, very fragile.”
Blumenthal said the gains over the past few years could disappear overnight, as the funding cuts from the federal government would result in an estimated 17 million people losing their health coverage.
Blumenthal was joined by Mark Jenkins, founder and CEO of the Connecticut Harm Reduction Alliance; Kimberly Nelson, chief program officer of the Wheeler Clinic; and Maria Coutant Skinner, president and CEO of the McCall Behavioral Health Network, at a briefing to denounce the proposed Medicaid reductions that are now being debated in the US House of Representatives.
Nelson echoed Blumenthal’s comments, noting that about 70% of the clients at the Wheeler Clinics are funded by Medicaid. The community-based nonprofit has locations in Bristol, Hartford, New Britain, Plainville, and Waterbury.
“This is just devastating and will be devastating for the communities that we all serve,” she said. “Without this funding, and without this support, we will be unable to grant people the immediate access to care, which is critical when we’re trying to save a life.”
Skinner said the progress over the past few years has come because of a very simple evaluation.
“Before any of that could happen, there was a critical decision that was made,” she said. “And that was that there was inherent worth in every life that we are privileged to touch.”
She called the belief of the inherent worth of every life a public health pillar.
“And when we make that decision, now it’s an investment in every life,” she said. “We touch those lives, and then they go on to become really wonderful, contributing members of our community. Again, it’s an investment.”