News & Media
Coronavirus April 10 Update: FEMA Draws Back Support for Testing, Surprise Billing and Price Gouging Legislation Are on the Table, and an Interview with Ted Cruz
FEMA draws back federal support of testing
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will draw back federal funding, personnel, and personal protective equipment from testing sites across the country, Vice President Mike Pence confirmed at the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing Thursday.
FEMA announced this week it would end its Community-Based Testing Sites, as testing advances and fewer tests require medical personnel. Two testing sites in Philadelphia, a potential hot spot, will close Friday following FEMA's withdrawal, the city's department of public health announced this week. That move was rebuked by members of the Pennsylvania delegation. "FEMA has chosen a path of chaos, which will only make this crisis much worse," said Rep. Brendan F. Boyle.
Pence said that states can still apply for federal help. Democrats say states should have been given more notice. "Rather than forcing states to petition the federal government at the last minute to maintain their support for CBTS on a case-by-case basis, states should have been given the opportunity to make their own decision about whether their testing sites should continue to be federally managed or state managed," said Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. in a statement.
Democrats' amendment providing more funds to hospitals fails in the Senate
Senate Democrats sought to attach more funding for hospitals to a bill supporting small business loans, but the measure was defeated. Republicans rejected attaching another $100 billion in funding for hospitals and another $150 billion for states to the renewal of the Paycheck Protection Program, a loan program designed in part to keep workers on payroll.
Republicans said the hospital and state funding is premature. President Donald Trump said at his daily press conference Thursday that he supported the funding "in the next phase."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized Democrats for blocking the business loans. McConnell said the money for hospitals authorized under the last rescue package (PL 116-136) "hasn't even gone out the door yet." Sen. John Cornyn described the amendment as "spending for spending's sake" in a tweet.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services initiated the process of distributing an early $30 billion tranche based on 2019 Medicare fee-for-service revenues this week, Lauren Clason reported. But officials are still formulating how to distribute the remaining $70 billion in the emergency provider fund approved under the law. It's not obvious where the hardest hit areas will be, given a lack of epidemiological data due to the testing shortage. CMS told lawmakers it could take up to 10 days to develop a plan for the second wave.
Hospitals are already strapped for resources. Hospitals have begun laying off or furloughing staff in response to lost revenue from ending elective procedures in order to triage beds and personal protective equipment. Covering unreimbursed care could eat up more than $40 billion, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. That estimate is likely to grow as the number of uninsured people increases with the staggering number of newly unemployed people, experts say.
The failed vote kicks off a new stage of negotiations over a fourth stopgap bill to stanch job losses and shore up the healthcare system.
Surprise billing is on the table
Senior Republican health aides said Thursday that they are hopeful a measure to protect patients from surprise medical bills could be included in the next legislative response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aides said that lawmakers working on the issue don't want to wait until November, when funding for several public programs that have been tied to surprise billing is set to expire, Mary Ellen McIntire reports. "It's like all of the stars are aligning. We just have to finally do it," one aide said.
Lawmakers had pushed for surprise billing to be included in the $2.3 trillion package responding to the economic and health crisis caused by the pandemic (PL 116-136), but ultimately it was not included.
Several congressional committees have been working on surprise billing issues for months, but lawmakers have been divided over the best mechanism for ending payment disputes between health plans and providers. Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Rep. Greg Walden, the top republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, have both said Congress should take up surprising billing soon.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said last week that hospitals receiving funds from the $100 billion provided for hospitals and health systems in the latest COVID-19 respond package would be prohibited from sending balance bills to patients for care related to the virus.
Concerns over price gouging during health emergency prompt legislative action
Concerns continue over the price gouging of goods like hand sanitizer, personal protective equipment and medical supplies as the National Strategic Stockpile runs dry and the private sector must meet states' equipment needs.
House Democrats are pushing a bill that would prohibit the sale of consumer goods and services at an "unconscionably excessive price" during the COVID-19 health emergency (view summary)."There will always be unscrupulous people who use times of crisis for their own personal gain, regardless of how it hurts people," said co-sponsor Tony Cardenas in a statement.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer urged the Trump administration to fully use its powers to address stockpile shortages, writing in a statement that "states should not be forced to bid against each other for scarce resources or face price gouging."
It's not the first time lawmakers have raised the alarm over price gouging: Sens. Charles E. Grassley and Amy Klobuchar wrote a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday urging the Justice Department to enforce a late-March executive order designed to prevent the hoarding of medical supplies.