BIRMINGHAM – On Friday, April 17, U.S. Senators Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) led 36 of their Senate colleagues in pressing congressional leaders to ensure that any future coronavirus relief legislation includes strong measures to secure health care coverage for Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. In a letter, the Senators urged Senate and House leaders to take steps to ensure that those who have lost their employer-based benefits – and those who are uninsured or underinsured – do not have to face this major public health crisis without access to health insurance.
“As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the employment security, financial stability, and health care coverage of millions of American families,” wrote the Senators. “Congress has taken unprecedented steps to provide immediate relief to many of these families, but unfortunately – to date – Congress has not included significant coverage provisions in its legislative efforts to address COVID-19.”
“We are in the midst of a global pandemic and strongly believe Congress has an imperative and moral obligation to act as soon as possible to get immediate assistance to Americans without healthcare coverage,” they continued. “Americans cannot and should not have to wait for the healthcare services they need during this global pandemic that is unprecedented during our time.”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, over 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment in the week ending April 11. In the two weeks prior, 6.6 million and 6.8 million Americans filed for unemployment, respectively. With approximately half of all of Americans receiving their health care coverage from an employer, the COVID-19 crisis threatens to leave a vast number of individuals without health insurance during the largest public health crisis in a century, adding to the estimated 27 million people in the U.S. who do not currently have health care.
In the letter, the Senators included the following initial recommendations that Congress should consider to ensure that Americans have access to health care coverage:
- Strengthen Medicaid: As unemployment increases, states will see an influx of individuals eligible for and in need of Medicaid coverage. Congress should provide states with additional Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) support based on these unemployment rates for all Medicaid populations to help address this influx. In addition, Congress should provide late- and yet-to-expand states with additional supports and incentives to ensure states can appropriately cover the millions of people who lack coverage and expand coverage options where needed.
- Re-open the ACA Marketplace and Provide Premium Relief to Enrollees: Congress should convey to the Administration the importance of using their existing authority to re-open the ACA health care exchanges to ensure that uninsured individuals can immediately enroll in health care coverage. Congress should also enhance assistance through the Advanced Premium Tax Credits (APTCs) to ensure more Americans can afford marketplace coverage.
- Provide COBRA Assistance to Individuals with Employer Sponsored Plans: Congress should provide premium reimbursement to newly unemployed Americans that may need to pay the entire premium cost of the employer sponsored healthcare coverage they previously elected in accordance with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
Senator Jones has been a vocal advocate for increased access to health care across the country and in Alabama. He has introduced legislation in the United States Senate to incentivize states like Alabama to expand Medicaid and has pushed for the federal coronavirus stimulus to include way to expand Medicaid programs. If Alabama expanded Medicaid, over 300,000 Alabamians would gain access to care and the state would receive billions of dollars in tax revenue.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
Media Release/Caroline Stonecipher/Office of alabama Senator Doug Jones
