Ordinarily during a presidential election year, significant legislative proposals grind to a halt. The party controlling the White House would like to be able to enact laws that bolster its reputation in ways that strengthen the rationale for voters to retain it in office. Opponents in the other party are less inclined to aid in achievement of that goal. Instead, it is much more to their advantage to portray the incumbents as being ineffective and give the electorate good reasons for removing current officials from office.
A good crisis can act as a circuitbreaker that disrupts this pattern of doing business and it arrived in the form of a declaration by the World Health Organization that a pandemic is underway accompanied by the establishment of a national emergency by the Trump Admiistration regarding the outbreak of COVID-19. These developments have set in motion some extraordinary responses in the form of legislation aimed at providing nostrums for the perceived health and economic threats posed by this disease. The following description of the steps being taken may be considered partial as of the date this section of the newsletter is being written because each passing day stimulates the arrival of new responses to the challenges arising from the spread of communicable disease.
In phase one of providing financial assistance, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-123), which passed with near unanimous support in both the House and Senate, was signed into law by the President on March 6, 2020. The bill provides $8.3 billion in emergency funding for federal agencies to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Of that amount, $6.7 billion is designated for the domestic response and $1.6 billion for the international response. The next major step taken was completion of the second supplemental legislative package aimed at seeking to contain and combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The president signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act H.R. 6201 (P.L. 116-127) on March 18. The House had passed the bill on both a 363-40 vote on March 14 and a subsequent March 16 unanimous vote to add technical corrections. The Senate then passed the measure on a vote of 90-8 on March 18.
The scope of these initiatives is vast insofar as recognition is being accorded to major disruptions caused by health care facilities in the U.S. possibly being overwhelmed by the demand for services and economic dislocations that result from workers becoming unemployed, along with the production of essential goods and services being curtailed. The kinds of situations either addressed by existing initiatives or being contemplated for future action include: unemployment insurance; enhanced paid leave and sick leave; direct financial payments to individuals; federally guaranteed loans to employers; loans to distressed industries, such as airlines; and increased funding for medical supplies and equipment.
P.L. 116-127 makes it possible for group and individual health insurance plans to cover approved diagnostic tests as well as office visits, treatment at urgent care clinics, telehealth, and emergency room visits that result in orders for coronavirus diagnostic testing, insofar as the services received during the visit relate to testing or determining the need for testing. Plans will not be able to impose cost-sharing or subject enrollees to prior authorization or other medical management requirements.
More Articles from March 2020 TRENDS
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Depicts coordinated actions by various levels of government to cope with the health and economic challenges posed by the appearance of COVID-19 in the U.S. Read More
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Points out some challenges in resolving essential uncertain infectious disease issues, provision of care for military veterans, and unintended negative consequences of beneficial actions implemented. Read More
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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TEETH, EARLY-LIFE ADVERSITY, AND MENTAL HEALTH RISK
Mentions how dentistry, anthropology, and archaeology on human tooth development potentially could be instrumental in producing an actionable new tool capable of achieving key primary prevention goals to offset physical and mental risks associated with early-life adversity. Read More
REPORTING OF RACE AND ETHNICITY IN THE MEDICAL LITERATURE
Refers to the extreme variability of reports on race and ethnicity in professional literature and the desirability of improving the collection, reporting, and publishing of such data. Read More