After Continued Advocacy, Rep. Mucarsel-Powell Announces That South Florida Hospitals Healthcare Providers Will Begin Receiving Federal Emergency COVID-19 Aid

MIAMI, Florida, April 11 -- Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, D-Florida, issued the following statement on April 10:

Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26) released the following statement to announce that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is beginning the delivery of the initial $30 billion in relief funding to providers in support of the national response to COVID-19 as part of the distribution of the $100 billion provider relief fund provided for in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act recently passed by Congress. This first tranche of funding will disperse over $2 billion dollars to over 20,000 hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers in Florida.

"I am proud that after strong advocacy HHS is finally disbursing this much needed emergency funding to our hospitals so that they are fully staffed, fully stocked with the necessary protective equipment, and ready to confront Florida's anticipated apex of COVID-19 patients in April," said Mucarsel-Powell. "I thank our doctors, nurses, and other professionals working to save lives from this terrible disease. I will continue fighting for increased funding for hospitals in the upcoming CARES 2.0 package and pushing for increased testing sites and outreach to underserved communities that are being disproportionately affected by the Coronavirus."

This past week Rep. Mucarsel-Powell:

* Organized a virtual press conference with local labor leaders representing nurses and hospital workers to call on the Trump administration to immediately release over $100 billion allocated by Congress specifically to reimburse hospitals for outstanding costs and COVID-19 related expenses and lost revenue.

* Led a letter to the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma to address the dire situation facing many hospitals throughout Florida and to urge them to quickly inject funding directly into the hospital system so healthcare facilities will not be forced to reduce staffing.

* Called on the State of Florida to regularly publish racial and ethnic demographic data for COVID-19 on their website and surveillance dashboard to understand the full effect of this virus and better respond to the needs of specific populations." This includes county-level data regarding the demographics of the amount of confirmed COVID-19 individuals, persons under investigation, and who has been tested.

Background on HHS Funding:

The initial $30 billion in immediate relief funds will begin being delivered to providers today. Recognizing the importance of delivering the provider relief funds in a fast, fair, and transparent manner, this initial broad-based distribution of the relief funds will go to hospitals and providers across the United States that are enrolled in Medicare. Facilities and providers are allotted a portion of the $30 billion based on their share of 2019 Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursements. These are payments, not loans, to healthcare providers, and will not need to be repaid. Please see the attached fact sheet and this website for more information.