July 15, 2020

KENNEDY, WARREN LEAD MA DELEGATION DEMANDING COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY EXTENSION

Critical services will be shuttered if declaration expires next week

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Joe Kennedy III and Senator Elizabeth Warren today led the entire Massachusetts Congressional Delegation in demanding that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar extend the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration that is set to expire on July 25, 2020. As COVID-19 cases nationwide reach historic highs on a near daily basis, the lawmakers wrote that the declaration has been critical to the Commonwealth’s efforts to increase access to health care and flatten the curve.   

“The public health emergency determination has been a lifeline for Massachusetts,” wrote the Delegation. “This determination ensured that Massachusetts would be able to furnish healthcare services they otherwise would not. It enabled the Commonwealth to waive certain Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP requirements, expand the healthcare workforce, and implement critical programs, such as the expansion for telemedicine services. Telemedicine ensures that people get the necessary services they need while maintaining their health and safety and that of the public’s. 

They continued, “As states across this country start to reopen, cases are reaching historic heights on a daily basis. Massachusetts has been one of the few that has not experienced another surge and it must remain that way. One key step is to ensure that none of the services provided by the “Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus” disappear. Therefore, as this determination is set to expire in a few short weeks, we demand that you immediately extend it and guarantee it remain in place until the United States has seen the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The full letter can be found here. Also signing the letter are Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman Richard E. Neal (MA-01), Chairman James P. McGovern (MA-02), and Representatives Lori Trahan (MA-03), Katherine Clark (MA-05), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08), and William R. Keating (MA-09).

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