Rep. Horsford Sends Letter to Trump Administration to Access Stimulus Funds for Labor Health Plans

WASHINGTON, April 7 -- Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada, issued the following news release:

Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) sent a letter with Senator Catherine Cortez Masto to the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to advocate for the inclusion of self-funded, employer-based plans like that of Culinary Union 226 as a provider eligible for funds dispersed from the $100 billion Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund created in the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Support Act in Congress.

"More than 120,000 workers and their families in Southern Nevada rely on these employer-funded clinics for primary care services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these clinics have provided access to critical screening services that have helped the region to manage outbreaks in Las Vegas," Congressman Horsford and Senator Cortez Masto wrote to Secretary Azar. "It is essential that they be able to continue this important role in alleviating stress on community health centers and urgent care centers whose capacities have been stretched by the pandemic."

The Culinary Union provides health insurance coverage through its Culinary Health Fund for over 130,000 Nevadans, including the Culinary Union's members and their dependents. Allowing health care plans like that of the Culinary Union will provide support for primary care providers responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

This additional funding is especially critical given Nevada's extreme health workforce shortage. Nevada ranks 47th nationwide for active physicians and 48th for active primary care doctors per 100,000 residents.

These shortages extend to other types of providers as well. Nevada ranks 42nd among other states with only 25 Physicians Assistants per 100,000 residents; just 42 Advanced Practice Registered Nurses per 100,000 residents are registered in the state.

"As you explore ways to stretch the capacity of our nation's health system to respond to this pandemic, we encourage you to ensure that employer-based providers caring for their workers have the support they need to continue doing so," the letter continued.

* * *

April 6, 2020

The Honorable Alex Azar

Secretary

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20201

Dear Secretary Azar:

Thank you for your agency's attention to the evolving needs of patients and families through the coronavirus pandemic. The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic has called for an unprecedented response. It was in this view that Congress allocated $100 billion to support the hospitals and health systems responding to disease outbreaks across the country. We appreciate your commitment to the speedy disbursement of these funds to frontline providers.

As you develop distribution rules and methodologies for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund resources, we strongly urge you to make explicit the eligibility of health care clinics provided by any self-funded group health plan sponsored by a multiemployer trust fund to apply for these funds./1

More than 150,000 workers and their families rely on six of these employer-funded clinics for primary care services across Las Vegas alone. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these clinics have provided access to critical screening services that have helped public health agencies to manage outbreaks in Southern Nevada. It is essential that they be able to continue this important role in alleviating stress on community health centers and urgent care centers whose capacities have been stretched by the pandemic.

This support for primary care providers responding to the COVID-19 crisis is especially critical given Nevada's extreme health workforce shortage. Our state ranks 47th nationwide for active physicians and 48th for active primary care doctors per 100,000 residents./2

These shortages extend to other types of providers as well - Nevada ranks 42nd among other states for Physician Assistants (PAs) with 25 PAs per 100,000 residents; just 42 Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) per 100,000 residents are registered in the state.

As you explore ways to stretch the capacity of our nation's health system to respond to this pandemic, we encourage you to ensure that employer-based providers caring for their workers have the support they need to continue doing so.

We appreciate your attention to this request, and your agency's partnership in our efforts to keep working families safe and healthy amidst this public health crisis.

Sincerely,

Catherine Cortez Masto, United States Senator

Steven Horsford, Member of Congress

Footnotes:

1/ Specifically, health care centers provided by group health plans sponsored by a VEBA (IRC501(c) (9).

2/ Dill, M., Fisher, K., & Jones, K (2017). 2017 State Physician Workforce Data Report. Association of American Medical Colleges. (online at https://store.aamc.org/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/30/)