By Mikayla Silcox
Elm Staff Writer
COVID-19 has been labeled as a national emergency since former President Donald Trump’s announcement on March 13, 2020.
While the pandemic has dwindled in terms of cases and severity – evident by the nearly full return to in-person work and studies, a lack of mask mandates, and a general decline in the consideration given to COVID-19 – the United States Senate is rushing to end the state of national emergency over a month early.
On March 29, the Senate passed a resolution to be sent to the president at a 68-23 vote in favor of ending the national emergency.
In Jan., the President Joseph Biden administration set a deadline to end national and public health emergencies for May 11, leading many to wonder why the Senate rushed into this decision when a date was already decided on.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told his caucus that President Biden does not plan on vetoing the bill, because although President Biden strongly opposes the entirety of the bill, the administration was on track to stop the state of emergency soon anyway, according to NBC.
“The ending of the national emergency declaration, should the President sign the resolution passed by the Senate, would have a limited impact,” Senior Vice President and Director of Global Health Policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation Jen Kates said to The Hill.
Although the pandemic’s danger at this moment is not as severe as it was at the start of the national emergency, the acceleration of the Biden administration’s plan could have large-scale financial impacts with little to no benefits.
Since March 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services has held the power to “temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children’s Health Insurance programs.”
HHS issued waivers such as certain Medicare provider enrollment requirements, requirements for in-person meetings between providers and patients, and forcing out-of-state Medicare and Medicaid providers to be licensed in the state they are providing services in.
The instability and rushed deadline may cause unnecessary disruptions to Americans, hospitals, and nursing homes relying on the flexibilities, without adequate time to prepare.
The May 11 deadline created the necessary time to ensure that hospitals in particular are able to convert to new billing and staff retraining processes.
This potential financial pitfall would hit the medical field the hardest.
An influx of possible payment issues and delays could hurt the revenue of hospitals throughout America.
In this case, facilities would already be at a disadvantage for normal medical care, so that if a virus as unexpected and rapidly forming as COVID-19 resurfaced, it is uncertain how capable hospitals would be at combating issues this time.
Because the deadline is so soon, supporters of this bill may not see the potential impact of expediting it.
“It is also likely that states using such flexibilities have already ended them or are preparing to do so given the May 11 date,” Kates said to the Hill.
There are no certainties based on the progress made to put the healthcare system back to “normal,” and this assumption is ignorant of small details, such as budgeting and planning, that could leave many Americans financially struggling in an area the pandemic has shown to be so vital.
There is no reason to hasten a plan that had a set date in mind since the beginning of the year. Biden’s refusal to veto a bill he does not support only demonstrates the lack of consideration for how many millions of Americans will be affected, all to save some debacle in the Senate.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photo Caption: President Joseph Biden will receive a bill that will end the national emergency before the May 11 deadline.