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Senate Passes $2-Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill

— Includes $150 billion for hospitals and other health facilities

MedpageToday
An illustrated armored car with the back door open and bags of money visible inside and on the ground

WASHINGTON -- By a 96-0 vote, the Senate late on Wednesday evening passed a to help healthcare workers and hospitals hit by COVID-19, in addition to aiding businesses and workers hit by the pandemic.

"It's only been 65 days since the first American tested positive with the new coronavirus on our soil -- and in barely 2 months, this pandemic has upended our nation," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). But because the Senate stepped up "for the healthcare heroes who leave their own sleeping children and drive to the hospital for an all-night shift, who spend hour after hour healing the sick, comforting strangers, and literally battling this disease, there will be more masks in their supply closets, more funding for their hospitals, and soon more new treatments to administer to their patients," he said.

The bill would provide $150 billion for hospitals and health systems, including $100 billion in grants to hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers. It also includes funding for hiring more healthcare workers and for research into coronavirus treatments.

It now goes to the House for consideration; the House is in recess but could pass the bill by a "unanimous consent" or "voice vote by proxy" procedure at a very short pro forma session scheduled for Friday morning. As an alternative, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could declare an emergency and require House members to come back to Washington to vote on the bill, but that is considered less likely. President Trump is expected to sign the bill once it reaches his desk.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the bill a "Marshall Plan" for the healthcare system. The bill also includes $6.3 billion for the Strategic National Stockpile for critical drugs and medical supplies including personal protective equipment, and $150 billion for a state and local Coronavirus Relief Fund, Schumer .

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), whose state has been hard hit by COVID-19, , saying they were "terrible" for his state's response to the coronavirus outbreak. "That is a drop in the bucket as to need," he said at a Wednesday morning news conference, noting that the Senate bill included $3.8 billion in assistance for New York compared with an earlier House proposal that would have provided $17 billion.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) praised the bill. "This bill includes important provisions that will help us respond, including the creation of an emergency fund grant program, additional support for taking care of COVID-19 patients and relief from spending cuts, among other provisions," AHA president and CEO Rick Pollack said in a statement.

"This support will help those hospitals from rural and urban communities that are in dire financial need due to this devastating pandemic ... While this legislation is an important first step forward, more will need to be done to deal with the unprecedented challenge of this virus. We will continue to work with Congress to make sure providers on the front lines -- hospitals, physicians, and nurses -- remain prioritized for future federal assistance as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads."

The Association for Community-Affiliated Plans (ACAP), which represents non-profit safety net health plans, applauded the bill but also voiced an objection, noting that one section of the bill "strips the continuous eligibility provision" for programs such as Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, "a move which is ill-advised and will leave many otherwise eligible individuals uninsured and without access to critical health care services," said Margaret Murray, the group's CEO, in a . ACAP urged Congress to keep the requirement "throughout the full lifespan of the pandemic."

The Senate's action comes as healthcare workers continue to care for COVID-19 patients without enough personal protective equipment and necessary supplies. "FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] is sending us 400 ventilators," Cuomo said on Tuesday. "Four hundred ventilators? I need 30,000 ventilators. You want a pat on the back for sending 400 ventilators? What am I going to do with 400 ventilators when I need 30,000? You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators!" New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that FEMA was sending an additional 4,000 ventilators to the state.

The biggest need many hospitals have is for N95 masks, explained Sean Petty, RN, a pediatric emergency room nurse in the Bronx and a member of the New York State Nurses Association board of directors. "We know that N95s are the only significant protection that we have against this virus," Petty . "And they are the item that is in most severe shortage in this country. Just this morning, as I was walking into the hospital, and we heard of -- we started hearing about reports of this just last night -- our command center has been telling nurses that the one N95 mask that they are distributing is the only N95 mask that they're going to be getting for an entire week."

After the bill was passed, the Senate adjourned for a recess until April 20, which Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) called "a real mistake."

"As we're seeing in this crisis, there's a lot of challenges that can't wait until the end of April," he said. "I hope my colleagues will be ready on a moment's notice to come back to this body and come to work to help the people we serve. I think that's likely to happen in the next week or two or three."