Ohio Treasurer candidate Robert Sprague, a Republican state representatives from Findlay and leader in the House on opioid issues, visited with trustees of The Red Tulip Project on Monday to discuss his proposal to create “social impact bonds” to encourage private investors to create programs to tackle opioid addiction.
The bond issue would be structured so that taxpayers would only pay out if the programs were successful, with a third party evaluating results.
“Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are an innovative financing tool that fosters partnerships between the public and private sectors, where the private market develops new programs, but the public sector only pays if the new programs can be proven to deliver results,” according to Sprague’s campaign website, spragueforohio.com.
“Part of what we need to do is bring everyone to the table and say we have these resources, you have these resources, let’s get together and figure out those in-between pieces, until the day that maybe there’s a blanket that covers us over,” Dianne Kellogg, initiator of the RTP’s mission, told Sprague, referring to housing, employment, poverty and addiction pieces.
In the meantime, Kellogg said the number of overdose deaths in Geauga County rose from 14 in 2016 to 24 last year.
“We need somebody with a broad vision and this (SIBs) sounds like a broad vision,” she said.
A tiny silver lining is overdose deaths this year are down, Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand said. There have been five reported OD death in Geauga County in 2018.
The sheriff said addicts receive treatment while incarcerated, but the problem is there is nowhere for them to go when they get out.
“That’s why these houses are so important,” he said, adding education is important, but sometimes treating the addiction takes years.
“As a legislator, you are mile wide and an inch deep,” Sprague said. “Everybody comes to you and they explain to you why their program is going to work, and the ideas with this (SIBs) is let’s pay for some things that produce results, show us the results.”
The hope is, he added, if there are programs producing results, that the state pays for after the fact, and that work better than what the state currently is paying for through the Medicaid system, then those pilot programs can be applied statewide, raising recovery rates and saving taxpayers the nearly billion dollars currently spent on treatment.
“That’s the broader mission, not just to fund one or two successful pilots, but to take the successes that we have and the templates that we have, and . . . to help more people in the state than just the people that went through that pilot program,” said Sprague. “And at the end of the day, we’ll save people’s lives because they’ll be in long-term recovery, and the state will save an enormous amount of money.”
The enabling language for SIBs was added to the state budget two years ago, he said.
“This is not pie in the sky,” Sprague said. “This is something that’s real. Other places are doing it and I think Ohio should be one of the leaders.”
He added, “My feeling is if we’re going to be ground zero for the epidemic, we should be ground zero for the solution.”
Sprague also pointed out in his travels across Ohio he has not seen any other 100 percent privately funded projects similar to RTP.
“You’re going to do so much better here, locally, using local resources figuring out the problem and what those individuals need . . . as opposed to the state trying to do it one size fits all,” he told trustees.
Kellogg explained treating addiction is a gradual recovery and needs to be combined with intense counseling.
“That’s more or less what we’re doing. We’re supporting people through that time period and helping them get the clinical support, the peer support and also if necessary the medically assisted treatment,” she said. “We’re gender specific, peer supported and soon to be trauma informed. That’s where we’re headed.”
Sprague extended kudos to the trustees for making a difference in the local community.
“That’s the only thing that is going to fix this,” he said. “There’s no cavalry coming over the hill from Columbus or what not that’s going to swoop in and fix this. It needs something where we all can roll up our sleeves and help our own community.”
