Urge Your US Senators NOT to Use Medicare Sequester, PRF to Pay for Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

July 16, 2021

FEDERAL ADVOCACY ALERT

ACTION REQUESTED:  Contact Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and urge them NOT to extend the 2% Medicare sequestration cut or use unspent COVID-19 Provider Relief Funds (PRF) to offset the cost of the bipartisan infrastructure package.  Contact information for Sen. Dick Durbin’s office is here, and Sen. Duckworth’s information is here.  A template letter/email is available here.  

BACKGROUND:  Next week the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on a nearly $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. Details are still developing; however, we know that healthcare funding is being considered to help offset the cost of the package, including extending the mandatory 2% Medicare sequester and redirecting unspent PRF dollars.

IHA supports new federal investment in our nations’s infrastructure, however, we strongly oppose using Medicare or unspent COVID-19 relief funds as an offset. Hospitals and health systems continue to face increased costs and lost revenues from responding to the pandemic, and cutting critical funding would harm the patients and communities we serve.

AHA members can access their alert here. Please IHA with questions.

TALKING POINTS:

  • Hospitals and health systems support increased federal investment in our nation’s infrastructure, however, Medicare and other healthcare funding should not be used to pay for it.
  • As Congress considers the bipartisan infrastructure package, [Hospital Name] respectfully requests that you oppose using healthcare dollars to pay for it.
  • [Hospital/health system name] continues to face increased expenses as a result of the pandemic, including higher costs for staffing, supplies and equipment; adjusting workflows to respond to the changing needs of the pandemic and meet evolving federal regulatory requirements; and providing care, among other expenses.
  • [Insert specific examples.]
  • As our state labors to recover from economic and societal challenges brought about by COVID-19, it is vital that our hospitals—and the critical community care they deliver—are secure.