Manchin, Capito Urge Senate To Delay Medicare Payment Cuts To Help West Virginia Healthcare Providers During COVID-19 Pandemic

Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) led 24 bipartisan Senators in urging Senate Leadership to continue the Medicare payment cut moratorium and extend the 2021 Medicare physician payment adjustment. These adjustments are set to expire at the end of the year, leaving West Virginia’s healthcare providers, who continue to rely on Medicare payments to stay afloat and provide quality care to West Virginians, facing a 5.75% total reduction in payments. This payment cut will directly impact the more than 440,000 West Virginians who rely on Medicare.

 

The Senators said in part, “Both the current moratorium on Medicare sequestration and the 2021 Medicare physician payment adjustment of 3.75 percent are scheduled to expire on December 31, 2021. Without immediate Congressional action, these changes will result in a 5.75 percent reduction in provider payments and billions lost in vital funding. Without immediate action, these cuts will begin just as providers are likely see a surge of patients in the new year.”

 

“As we continue our work through the end of the year, we urge you to ensure that the moratorium on sequestration and the 2021 Medicare physician payment adjustment are extended through the end of the public health emergency,” the Senators continued.

 

In March, Senators Manchin and Capito introduced the Medicare Sequester Relief Act that served as the starting point to the bill President Biden signed into law with strong bipartisan support to prevent Medicare payment cuts to healthcare providers from taking effect for the rest of the year. In 2020, West Virginia hospitals alone lost over $400 million, making these Medicare payments essential to helping healthcare providers to stay afloat. These payments are also critical to our home health, hospice, health center and durable medical equipment suppliers across West Virginia.

 

In addition to Senators Manchin and Capito, the bipartisan letter was co-signed by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Angus King (I-ME), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

 

Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell,

 

We write to you today to request immediate relief for our frontline health care providers. As we continue our ongoing work to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we urge you to extend the current moratorium on Medicare sequestration and the 2021 Medicare physician payment adjustment through the end of the public health emergency.

 

Despite continuous progress to vaccinate Americans, COVID-19 continues to strain the resources of our providers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the 7-day moving average of daily new cases remains well above 80,000. Hospitalizations similarly increased by a corresponding 5 percent.  In several states, the availability of intensive care beds is dwindling. As winter sets in, cases are likely to continue to rise as families stay indoors and travel for the upcoming holiday season. We are also hearing concerning reports about the potential impact of the Omicron variant, which the World Health Organization recently warned poses a very high risk of global spread, and which has already been reported in five states in the U.S.

 

Both the current moratorium on Medicare sequestration and the 2021 Medicare physician payment adjustment of 3.75 percent are scheduled to expire on December 31, 2021. Without immediate Congressional action, these changes will result in a 5.75 percent reduction in provider payments and billions lost in vital funding. These cuts will begin just as providers are likely to see a surge of patients in the new year.

 

As we continue our work through the end of the year, we urge you to ensure that the moratorium on sequestration and the 2021 Medicare physician payment adjustment are extended through the end of the public health emergency. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.