Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Program That Funds Covid Testing And Treatment For The Uninsured Runs Dry
The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration To Stop Reimbursing Hospitals For Covid-19 Care For Uninsured
Some people without health insurance will begin getting bills for Covid-19 treatments and testing after the Biden administration on Tuesday starts winding down a federal program that reimburses providers for virus-related care for the uninsured and that officials say is running out of funds. The White House says it will end the reimbursement program, which started under the Trump administration and also pays hospitals and other healthcare providers for things such as administering Covid-19 vaccines to uninsured people, by the end of April because it is running out of money. The administration and hospitals are urging lawmakers to approve more funding for the program. (Armour and Siddiqui, 3/22)
AP: COVID Budget Impasse Halts Aid To Test And Treat Uninsured
The Uninsured Program is an early casualty of the budget impasse between Congress and the White House over the Biden administration’s request for an additional $22.5 billion for ongoing COVID response. In operation since the Trump administration, the program reimburses hospitals, clinics, doctors and other service providers for COVID care for uninsured people, whose numbers total about 28 million. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/22)
Fierce Healthcare: White House: Providers Won't Get Reimbursed For Uninsured COVID-19 Care Unless Congress Acts
The program has been in place since the start of the pandemic roughly two years ago. The $175 billion Provider Relief Fund paid out the uninsured claims, and the American Rescue Plan allocated $4.8 billion to reimburse providers for testing uninsured patients. More than 50,000 providers have received reimbursements under the program, according to data from the Health Resources and Services Administration. (King, 3/15)
