PORTLAND, Maine — The number of drug-affected babies born in Maine is on the rise, according to the state's Department of Health and Human Services.
The agency hosted a conference in Portland today to draw attention to the fact that substance abuse affects more than 900 Maine babies born every year.
The state is encouraging collaboration between health providers as a way to lower those numbers, but some who treat addiction say the state needs to increase funding for services.
Like a lot of people who struggle with opiate addiction, Danielle — whose name has been changed for this story — started with a legitimate prescription for pain medication. It was due to complications from labor with her first child.
"I barely took Tylenol before, and it was legitimately just to be OK," she says. "It wasn't to get high or anything like that, but eventually I realized I couldn't go without it, and that was very scary for me."
Danielle started buying prescription pain medication off the street, and realized she needed help. She has got treatment for about six years, and then she unintentionally got pregnant.
"We were using protection, but it just happened to be, and I panicked," she says.
But Danielle ultimately gave birth to a healthy baby and credits her treatment with getting her life back on track.
She and her husband have good jobs. They own a house. And both her children, she says, are thriving.
"I was one of the lucky ones," she says.
Over an eight-year period, from 2006 to 2014, the numbers of drug-affected babies in Maine jumped from around 200 to almost 1,000.
"We currently have up to 8 percent of all the babies born in Maine who are drug affected," says state DHHS Chief Health Officer Chris Pezzullo.
He was among those in attendance at a conference on the issue organized by DHHS, which is calling on health providers and community organizations to work together to reduce the effect of substance abuse during pregnancy.
But Dr. Mark Publicker, who has treated addiction for the past three decades, says one of the best ways to do that is to ensure women get treatment before they're pregnant.
"Fundamentally," he says, access to treatment "is dependent on access to insurance."
Maine has reduced eligibility for Mainecare in recent years, and it has also cut reimbursement rates for methadone.
Brent Miller of the Discovery House in Bangor says that means that treatment centers have reduced capacity. Though a pregnant woman is always put at the top of the list of admissions, Miller says she may still have to wait.
"At one time I was doing 16 admissions per week," he says. "I'm down to eight now."
Two treatment centers in southern Maine — Mercy Recovery Center in Westbrook and Spectrum in Sanford — announced recently they would close due to declining reimbursements and rising numbers of uninsured patients.
Publicker, who used to work at Mercy, says there are treatment holes throughout the state, including Cumberland and York counties in southern Maine, but also in less populated areas.
"There are places in western parts of the state and more rural parts of the state where treatment is simply not available," he says.
But DHHS spokesman David Sorensen points out that that once a woman becomes pregnant, she's automatically eligible for Mainecare.
"On top of that, DHHS spends tens of millions of dollars annually on drug addiction treatment for the uninsured, and certainly women who may become pregnant are eligible for those services," he says.
Before Susie — not her real name — became pregnant, she says she had to pay out of pocket to get treatment after battling opiate addiction for about 10 years. She says it cost her $100 a week.
"I really wish insurance was easier to get and they did more for addiction treatment in insurance plans, because it would make it easier for people to come here," she says.
"Here" is Discovery House in Bangor, where Susie's had about of year of treatment.
When she became pregnant about five months ago, she was nervous, she says, but "it also reaffirmed the fact that I need to continue on the path I was going — the better life I was leading."
Susie now receives MaineCare coverage for her treatment.
She does worry about juggling her treatment along with a new baby. But she says she can't wait to one day educate her child about addiction and about not judging those who struggle with it.
