Federal COVID-19 Package Passes House, Moves to Senate

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Kari Thurlow

Federal lawmakers continue to move forward with a COVID-10 response package. Last weekend, the House passed the $1.9 trillion package and now the legislation is being considered in the Senate.
While the current package includes investments in infection control teams for care centers and an enhanced Medicaid match for HCBS Waivers, it fails to provide to the existing Provider Relief Fund.

In addition, late last week, House Democratic leaders eliminated $1.8 billion in funding for congregate settings. While there is still $25 million remaining in the Provider Relief Fund, we are encouraging the Senate to appropriate additional funding before passing the bill. Specifically, we are asking for the Senate to include the following: 

Provider Relief Fund
(PRF) Add an additional $120 billion to address the current needs of all health care providers.  We are asking that $40-50 billion should be designated specifically for senior care providers to continue to meet pandemic related costs and lost revenues and to sustain themselves into the future. Further, we are asking that the legislation allow providers to be able utilize the PRF received for up to 6 months after the end of the public health emergency to provide adequate time to phase back into pre-pandemic service levels.

Affordable Housing Relief
Address the needs of older adults in HUD-assisted senior housing with $1.2B in COVID-19 relief for Service Coordinators ($300M), wireless internet ($50M) in their apartments, and funds for cleaning, PPE, services, and staffing caused by the pandemic ($845M). 

Take Action
Share your concerns with Sens. Klobuchar and Smith and ask them to include Provider Relief Funds and affordable housing relief in the Senate bill. Simply enter your contact information for more intomation about how to take action!

There are a number key provisions related to senior care in the bill that we support, including: 

• Reserves $200 million for COVID-19 infection control support in skilled nursing facilities. Support will be provided via quality improvement organizations. 
• Reserves $250 million to establish “strike teams” to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities. 
• Provides $188 million for the Elder Justice Act in FY2021 and FY2022. The Elder Justice Act was passed in 2010 to address abuse, neglect, and exploitation among seniors.
• Provides $1,444,000,000 for programs authorized by the Older Americans Act (OAA): 
  • $25 million for services (including nutrition) for Native American communities. 
  • $470 million to support home- and community-based services (including COVID-19 vaccine outreach and social isolation). 
  • $10 million for the long-term care ombudsman program. 
• Temporarily increases FMAPs by 7.35% to help states improve Medicaid home- and community-based services. The increase will last for one year.