Half of the states call for end of Public Health Emergency for coronavirus

Joe Biden is expected to renew it for three more months despite his assertion that "the pandemic is over." It expires on January 11.

Published by

Alejandro Baños

20 de diciembre, 2022

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25 governors have written a letter to Joe Biden requesting an end to the Public Health Emergency (PHE), proclaimed almost three years ago as a result of the coronavirus. Its validity expires January 11, although the President is expected to extend it for three more months, despite the fact that he stated that "the pandemic is over." The brief was signed by the governors of New Hampshire, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

In April, 23 governors - now joined by the Republican governors of Iowa and Idaho, Kim Reynolds and Brad Little - signed a letter telling Biden not to extend the public health emergency because of the millions of dollars in costs to the states:

While the enhanced federal match provides some assistance to blunt the increasing costs due to higher enrollment numbers in our Medicaid programs, states are required to increase our non-federal match to adequately cover all enrollees and cannot disenroll members from the program unless they do so voluntarily.

"It's time to put the pandemic behind us and get back to normal life."

In the letter, the governors alluded to the president's assertion that the pandemic was over and the bipartisan Senate resolution to end the national emergency a month ago. Therefore, they noted that "it is time we move on from the pandemic and get back to life as normal."

"We have come so far since the beginning of the pandemic, we now have the tools and information necessary to help protect our communities from covid-19. We are back to business as usual, and it is time for the federal government's policies to reflect that," the governors said in the letter.

PHE is negatively affecting states, primarily by artificially increasing our Medicaid covered population, regardless of whether people remain eligible under the program. Since the beginning of the pandemic, states have added 20 million individuals to the Medicaid rolls (an increase of 30%) and those numbers continue to climb as the PHE continues to be extended every 90 days.