ICYMI: WMUR Highlights Senator Hassan’s Guest for Presidential Address, Substance Abuse Treatment Advocate Ashley Hurteau

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, WMUR covered Senator Maggie Hassan’s guest of honor, substance abuse treatment advocate Ashley Hurteau of Dover, for President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress. Ashley is now in recovery from heroin addiction after she was able to access substance abuse treatment because of New Hampshire’s bipartisan Medicaid expansion plan.

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A Dover woman who went from being a heroin addict to helping others get treatment attended the president's address to Congress Tuesday night.

Ashley Hurteau attended as the special guest of Sen. Maggie Hassan and was there to hear about proposed changes to health care, which turned out to be one of the major issues during the address.

… “I invited her to Washington so we can focus on how important it is to maintain Medicaid expansion, which is helping thousands of people in New Hampshire, and that means we really can't afford to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” Hassan said in the video.

Hurteau is the face of the "Speak Up New Hampshire" campaign, promoting recovery and fighting the stigma tied to drug use.

Hurteau said her heroin addiction left her homeless, even behind bars - until she found treatment

“Because I was on Medicaid expansion, I was able to plea into a program and was given the opportunity to turn my life around,” she said in the Twitter video.

… Following Trump’s speech, Hassan issued a statement saying the president's policies would "...harm our efforts to combat the heroin, fentanyl and opioid crisis, take away health insurance coverage from tens of thousands of Granite Staters."

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