Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) led a group of U.S. Senators in a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), calling for future Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) response legislation to include modifications to repayment obligations and provide an opportunity for loan forgiveness for health care providers who’ve sought financial assistance amid the coronavirus pandemic through Medicare’s Accelerated and Advance Payments Program.
This program was expanded under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to allow for hospitals, physicians, and other Medicare-participating providers to apply for upfront payments from Medicare to help cover revenue shortfalls as a result of COVID-19. To date, Colorado providers have received nearly $1.3 billion in upfront payments through this program to mitigate the economic shortfall caused by the pandemic. Across the nation, this program has delivered more than $100 billion in upfront payments to health care providers.
Bennet and the senators wrote, “As you negotiate a legislative package to address the ongoing health and economic impact of the novel coronavirus or “COVID-19” pandemic, we write to urge you to include critical modifications to the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments program. This program has provided hospitals, nursing facilities, physician practices and other health care providers across this country with vital financial assistance to help ensure ongoing liquidity during this time when providers’ revenues have steeply declined and COVID-19 response expenses have increased. However, without revisions to the terms and repayment schedule of the program and an option for forgiveness of upfront payments provided by the program, health care providers will face significant financial stress during the months ahead, at a time when we need to ensure continued availability of care and services.”
In their letter, Bennet and his colleagues included a series of modifications to the program that should be addressed to provide financial relief to health care providers on the frontlines, which includes providing health care providers and hospitals an opportunity to seek forgiveness on remaining balances owed under their loan, delaying the recoupment and interest accrual on loans, limiting how much can be recouped from providers at any one time, and reducing the interest rates for loans through the program.
Bennet and the senators urged U.S. Senate and U.S. House leadership to make these changes in future COVID-19 relief legislation a top priority, concluding, “Our health care providers have risen to the challenge on the frontlines of this pandemic. These providers have followed COVID-19 mitigation protocols, including cancellation of elective procedures and visits, at a substantial financial cost to their organizations. Health care providers have also faced new challenges, such as acquiring sufficient personal protective equipment to keep patients and health care staff safe. All of these necessary actions have led to a difficult financial environment for health care providers. Together we must make changes to the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments program and ensure that the program does not exacerbate these providers’ financial struggles in the midst of this ongoing crisis.”
Bennet and Shaheen recently introduced legislation to address concerns related to the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments Program. Bennet joined his colleagues in a bipartisan letter to the Trump Administration in April, urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to waive or modify interest rates for health care providers who’ve sought financial assistance amid the COVID-19 crisis through Medicare’s Accelerated and Advance Payments Program. Heeding their call, the Trump Administration later agreed to support efforts that address these interest rates for health care providers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.
In additional to Bennet, Shaheen, and Stabenow, the letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
The text of the letter is available HERE.