CLAREMONT — A day after what she characterized as a strong showing at Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary debate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., made a few stops in New Hampshire, including an afternoon visit to the Claremont Center for Recovery Resources.
The center is run by TLC Family Resource Center, which provides a variety of services, including help for those in addiction recovery.
Klobuchar has laid out a comprehensive plan to increase funding for both mental health and addiction recovery that would be paid for from both a settlement in a lawsuit against opioid makers and a tax on opiates going forward.
“One out of five Americans at some time in their life will have an issue with mental health, and yet no one really talks about it,” Klobuchar said as she prepared to depart for Manchester after about a 40-minute stop in Claremont.
“We’ve gotten better trying to get health care insurance for it, but there is still issues with insurance companies not covering mental health treatment, which means we have to enforce the parity laws that say it must be treated the same (as other health issues.)
Klobuchar also said moving from a state-based mental health system to community-based was a good idea but not enough planning was done leaving many states without sufficient beds for mental health patients. An increase in the suicide rates the last 15 years points to the critical need for better mental health services, Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar said on the campaign trail the response to her plan has been positive because it has been an issue many are reluctant to talk about.
“When we get this opioid money in, we have got to make sure some of it is used for mental health as well as opioids,” she said. “You don’t have to be addicted to opiates to get money for mental health (services). I think we need to make it broader.”
Among those listening to Klobuchar was Duane Churchill, of Cornish, who drives a school bus for the Claremont school district.
When the discussion centered on addiction, Churchill said those in recovery should not be connected to the penal system at the county jail.
“It is contradictory,” he said.
Later, Churchill said Klobuchar is among those he is considering voting for in the New Hampshire primary in February. He said he read her memoir and likes her moderate stance on the issues because they will be necessary to govern.
“You have got to work with Republicans to get anything done,” Churchill said.
Also in attendance was Peter Burling, of Cornish, a former state senator and former member of the Democratic National Committee.
Burling, who has endorsed Klobuchar, said much the same thing that Churchill said about the appeal of a moderate to the broader electorate.
“You have got to work with Republicans to get anything done,” Churchill said.
“I see the pragmatist in Amy and it’s what this country warms to,” Burling said before Klobuchar arrived. “What Sen. Klobuchar talks about all the time, is, ‘I want to be the president of all of us.’ ”
Burling said he believes the primary will come down to a contest between Klobuchar and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and not between progressives Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
Klobuchar fielded a few questions on providing funding for mental health and addiction and returned to her plan that focuses on increasing access and making funding available to pay for the services.
“The plan I put together is paid for with a milligram tax,” Klobuchar said. “There has got to be a way to beef up mental health funding independent of money for drug recovery.”
Klobuchar’s plan calls for manufacturers to pay a 2-cent fee on each milligram of active opioid ingredient of a pain pill.
During the visit, Maggie Monroe-Cassel, executive director of TLC, highlighted some of the services available to young mothers, pregnant women and others. She said the center’s focus is on prevention of teen pregnancy, child neglect and substance abuse.
“That is where our hands and hearts are,” she told Klobuchar.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
