On Sunday, Congress came to a compromise on a year-end legislative package after weeks of negotiation and months of stalemate. The package includes several provisions of particular importance to physicians, including key COVID-19 relief and legislation
to address out-of-network billing. Congress is expected to vote on the legislation today. Listed below are details on what we expect to see in the final legislation (starred items were top priorities included in MMS advocacy):
- Direct payment of up to $600 per adult and child (applicable to those below certain income levels)
- $300 per week for enhanced unemployment insurance benefits
- $60 billion to support vaccine distribution, testing and contract tracing efforts, including $22 billion sent directly to states for their testing, tracing and Covid-19 mitigation programs. The MMS strongly advocated for these provisions and released a statement on the topic.*
- $9 billion for health care providers*:
- $3 billion and new distribution requirements for the HHS Provider Relief Fund, which provides payments directly to health care providers*
- A delay on the 2% Medicare sequestration cuts through March 31, 2021*
- $3 billion to mitigate payment cuts from the CY2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule (that goes into effect January 1). These fixes, combined with others in the bill, are expected to significantly lessen the cuts physicians would
have seen as a result of the fee schedule rule, though does not eliminate them completely. The MMS organized a grassroots advocacy campaign on this issue.*
- $325 billion for small businesses, which includes $284 billion for forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and provisions that allow businesses to deduct expenses associated with their forgiven PPP loans and adds PPE as an eligible expense*
- $82 billion for public and private education providers, like schools and colleges
- $10 billion for childcare assistance*
- $4.5 billion in mental health funding*
- $1 billion for NIH to research COVID-19
- $13 billion in increased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and child nutrition benefits*
- $7 billion to bolster broadband access*
- $25 billion for rental assistance and an extension of the eviction moratorium
- Extends and expands the refundable Employee Retention Tax Credit and includes a tax credit to support employers offering paid sick leave
- Allows individuals to carry over any unused health and dependent care FSA benefits from 2020 into the 2021 plan year, along with other FSA plan flexibilities
- A ban on balance billing that holds patients harmless from surprise medical bills and aligns with our advocacy efforts. Notably, the bill would establish an arbitration method where a third party settles disputes between providers and insurers on
out-of-network charges. Our advocacy, along with others in the physician community, resulted in last-minute, favorable provisions that prohibit the arbiter from factoring in Medicare and Medicaid rates when deciding on an out-of-network charge
and extended the timeline to initiate the arbitration process, among other changes. The MMS released a statement and sent a letter to key Congressional leaders advocating for these revisions.*
- 3-year extension of numerous public health programs, including funding for Community Health Centers, the Special Diabetes Program, a delay of the Medicaid DSH cuts, the Certified Community Behavioral Health Center program, among others*
View the COVID-19 Response Issue Page for an overview of other MMS COVID-19-related advocacy. For any questions about this bill or MMS advocacy
efforts, please email advocacy@mms.org.
(Updated on Monday, December 21, 2020)
