The AAMC joined 26 hospital, provider, health insurance, and other health care organizations in a Nov. 12 letter requesting that Congress extend the current moratorium on 2% Medicare sequester cuts until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Along with the AAMC, other signatories included the American Medical Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, America’s Essential Hospitals, and America’s Health Insurance Plans.
The letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) thanks Congress for suspending the Medicare sequestration cuts in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES, P.L. 115-136) but notes that this moratorium on the 2% cut expires on Dec. 31.
The letter reminds congressional leaders that the pandemic is not over and that the “upsurge in cases also has impacted the financial health of medical professionals and facilities, including the increased cost of labor to ensure adequate staffing, procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE), significant reductions in patient volume resulting from orders to cancel non-emergent procedures, and the high cost of caring for COVID patients.” The letter continues that congressional action is needed to “prevent the additional, damaging financial stress that would be caused by the return of the Medicare sequester.”