Health Care Provisions of Third COVID-19 Bill Will Keep Americans Healthy, Improve Access to Medical Supplies, Help Doctors and Nurses

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2020 — The Chairmen of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the Senate Finance Committee today released the following statements on provisions included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to keep Americans healthy and help families, workers, and schools during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“This urgent situation requires a united approach to help Americans hurt by the outbreak. That includes fixing problems with the paid leave mandate, improving our health care capability and providing relief to schools and students who have had their education disrupted. This legislation includes proposals to expand testing and ensure laboratory-developed tests are free, hire more health care workers, manufacture more personal protective equipment, and speed the development of new vaccines and treatments. Additionally, the legislation allows students to defer payment on their student loans and to keep their Pell grants and gives the Education Secretary flexibility to waive federal academic testing and accountability rules,” Senate HELP committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said.

“As America combats coronavirus, we’re rapidly working to provide resources and relief for Americans and health care providers that care for them. We’ll boost the use of telehealth services so Americans can receive care in the safety of their own home, reducing the exposure risk for everyone including providers and the most vulnerable. Medicare will boost payments to health care providers and hospitals to ensure they have the resources to care for patients. Anyone with health savings accounts will be able to more easily get the care they need. These proposals in conjunction with those of other task forces will deliver the most significant package of relief yet to Americans as we continue to combat this public health crisis,” Senate Finance committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said.

These proposals are included in a legislative package that provides loans to small businesses and provides additional aid to Americans impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.  

A section-by-section of provisions in the HELP Committee’s jurisdiction is available here.

A section-by-section of provisions in the Finance Committee’s jurisdiction is available here.

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