President Trump’s listeners heard nice words when he spoke about America’s opioid crisis Thursday just before he signed a directive declaring the drug scourge a public health emergency – something considerably less than the national emergency he called it in August.
On one hand, it’s great that the White House is spending time to spur a national conversation about the opioid epidemic that is estimated to be wrecking the lives of 23 million people.
On the other hand, for now at least, these are words with very little action. And they are words without money to create action. Mostly, it was words intended to make us think he was keeping a promise. Yet another empty promise.
Here’s the president’s largely hollow plan:
-Bypass a rule that bars Medicaid funding from being used for many drug rehabilitation facilities – the Medicaid plan that continues to be under attack from the president and the GOP.