CMS Coronavirus Waivers & FlexibilitiesīACKGROUND ON FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS.Looking Around the Corner: Medicare Reimbursement for Telehealth Services After the Public Health Emergency.CMS Releases Second Round of COVID-19 Flexibilities.CMS Expands Flexibilities in Response to COVID-19.Should both the national emergency declaration and the PHE end, all waiver authority would cease. There are notable exceptions, however, including telehealth waivers, policy changes contained in two interim final rules, and specific policies in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Should the national emergency declaration end, most of the waivers would terminate. Currently, both of these declarations are active. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The authority to grant public health emergency-based waivers under §1135 of the Social Security Act is provided to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) when two things are true: the Secretary declares a public health emergency (PHE), and the President declares a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act (NEA) or the Robert T. These waiver flexibilities are temporary, however. 28.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued more than 100 waivers giving healthcare providers the flexibility to meet the demands presented by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. If the court rules against the Biden administration, then the point is moot. If the court rules in favor of the Biden administration, then the end of the national emergency shouldn’t affect the outcome, even if it occurs after May. Biden-the start of the debt cancellation plan-took place last year and has been stayed (meaning suspended) by the court. “Additional relief beyond the payment pause is necessary to ensure that affected borrowers are not ‘in a worse position financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,’” the administration wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court. This makes it possible for the secretary of education to make changes to the federal student loan program during national emergencies if borrowers have “suffered direct economic hardship.” The legal authority the Biden administration argues enables them to cancel student loan debt falls under the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students, or HEROES, Act. Payments will restart either 60 days after that case is resolved, or 60 days after June 30, 2023, whichever is earliest. Supreme Court case tied to Biden’s one-time student loan forgiveness plan. In response, federal departments and agencies implemented their own changes to policies, like the pause on federal student loan payments and interest accrual, first implemented by Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.Īs the national emergencies come to an end, it’s not exactly clear how the move will affect Americans with federal student loans.Ĭurrently, the date for restarting federal student loan payments depends on the outcome of a U.S. The declarations spurred a variety of real-world policy changes affecting average Americans’ lives, including free COVID tests, treatments, and vaccines. The public health emergency was first declared by then-President Donald Trump in January 2020, and the national emergency in March 2020. Earlier this week, President Joe Biden said he intends to let the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency declarations expire in May.
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