Expansion of the insurance program could provide substance-abuse treatment for 2.6 million uninsured alcoholics and addicts, experts say.

The nonprofit advocacy group Faces and Voices of Recovery hosted a webinar yesterday, outlining coming changes to the American health-care landscape as a result of Medicaid’s expansion. This is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—aka Obamacare. Under the law, in states that choose to participate (as per a Supreme Court ruling this summer), Medicaid eligibility will be extended to everyone under 65 years of age with income at or below 133% of the federal poverty level (FPL). At present that’s $14,404 a year for an individual and $29,327 for a family of four. According to Suzanne Fields, senior advisor on health care financing forSAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), “The key point from my piece of the conversation is that the Medicaid expansion will provide benefits to mental-health and substance-abuse clientele.” Read More…