Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and West Virginia University President Gordon Gee have formed a nonprofit to push any national opioid settlement to hospitals instead of state and local governments, according to the Dayton Daily News.
The duo formed the Citizens for Effective Opioid Treatment, which aims to advance health-related solutions to the opioid crisis and educate lawmakers and the public about the negative effects the opioid epidemic has had on healthcare infrastructure.
"America's healthcare providers — our nurses, doctors, and other healthcare providers — are in the trenches every day combating this crisis, and are uniquely qualified to lead us out of it. Let’s ensure they have the resources to do so," the website for the nonprofit reads.
The formation of the nonprofit comes amid an emerging debate about how to allocate the billions of dollars that could flow from a national opioid settlement.
Local governments have argued that they should receive the settlement, but state attorneys general says states should be in charge of deciding where the money will be distributed.
A Cleveland-based federal judge is overseeing most of the more than 2,000 lawsuits filed against drugmakers and distributors. The lawsuits have been consolidated into a trial set to begin in October.