Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget cuts are draconian, mean spirited, and completely wrongheaded. For example, the governor says his number one priority is public safety. Yet his budget proposal cuts Medicaid and eliminates substance abuse programs proven to reduce recidivism.
Many people in jail are there because their crimes were drug related. Whether you like it or not, 95 percent of these folks will be released back into the community after serving their sentences. Right now, the Alaska Medicaid expansion covers the cost of court-ordered substance abuse treatment. Gov. Dunleavy’s proposed budget will reduce Medicaid by at least 33 percent and, if he gets his way, eliminate it entirely.
Do we want people with opioid addictions back into our neighborhoods without the treatment needed to keep them from committing crimes in the future? If public safety is a real priority, the obvious answer is no, particularly when you know the federal government provides 70 percent of the Medicaid budget and the money saved in reduced criminal justice costs greatly exceeds Alaska’s 30 percent contribution.
To protect our families, our neighbors and to meaningfully promote public safety, the Alaska Legislature must act now to reject the governor’s proposed Medicaid cuts.
— Kevin F. McCoy
Anchorage
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