Sen. Portman: How the CARES Act Helps Seniors in Ohio

WASHINGTON, April 4 -- Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, issued the following news release:

Last week, Senator Portman supported passage of the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act, which is now law, is providing unprecedented resources to our national health care system and our economy to help them respond to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, and seniors and retirees in Ohio will receive additional targeted aid through provisions to protect their retirement savings accounts.

Specifically, the CARES Act rescue package will help Ohio seniors during the coronavirus pandemic by:

Providing needed economic support.

CARES provides direct financial assistance to Ohio families in need, including seniors.

Starting this week, the government will be mailing checks of $1,200 for individuals making less than $75,000 per year, with lesser amounts sent to individuals making up to $99,000 per year.

Couples making less than $150,000 will receive $2,400, with lesser amounts sent to couples making up to $198,000 per year.

Families with children would be eligible for an additional $500 per child.

This means the average family of four will receive approximately $3,400 through the CARES Act.

Seniors are eligible to receive these benefits even if they are on Social Security and did not file taxes in 2018 or 2019.

* Senator Portman worked with the Treasury Department to ensure that these Social Security beneficiaries would be included in this rebate program

* Social Security recipients should expect to receive their payments via direct deposit in the coming weeks.

And it provides $4.5 billion to the state of Ohio and $150 billion overall to support states and local governments that are impacted by the coronavirus to ensure they can continue to provide basic services for their citizens.

Protecting the health of seniors.

CARES builds upon work by the Trump Administration and prior COVID-19 legislation to waive additional restrictions around telehealth in Medicare to ensure that seniors can receive care at home, as opposed to having to leave their homes and put themselves in harm's way in settings like doctors offices and hospitals where the risk of infection is high.

CARES also includes Senator Portman's Ensuring Access to Direct Support Professionals Act, to ensure that seniors with Medicaid who rely on paid caregiver services can maintain access to these services throughout hospitalizations.

* Current law prohibits such services, leading to worse outcomes and longer hospital stays. This policy is permanent and will remain in place even after the pandemic subsides.

CARES provides $150 billion to health care providers and hospitals in Ohio and elsewhere to accelerate the public health response, increase testing, and save lives.

* This includes needed support for rural hospitals that may otherwise have not had the capacity to respond to the historic surge in coronavirus cases we are currently seeing.

CARES provides $4.3 billion to support the CDC and state and local health departments in their response to coronavirus and save Ohioan lives.

* This includes resources to expand testing capabilities so that more Ohioans can know whether or not they or a loved one have been infected with coronavirus, potentially limiting the spread and saving lives.

* It also includes resources to speed up the development of antiviral therapies that can help alleviate the worst symptoms of coronavirus for Ohioans fighting the disease and in doing so potentially reduce the overall number of fatalities, particularly among high-risk groups like the elderly.

Ensuring senior services are funded

CARES provides $955 million to the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living to go towards aging and disability services, including senior nutrition programs, family caregivers and independent living services, and elder justice.

CARES provides $5 billion for the Community Development Block Grant to go in part towards services for senior citizens

CARES provides $50 million to go towards housing and services for low-income seniors, who are often at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus.

Protecting money in retirement accounts.

CARES temporarily suspends required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the rest of 2020.

* This will prevent seniors from having to draw down their retirement accounts during this significant downturn in the market protecting their hard-earned savings.

* RMDs are measured based on the valuation of retirement accounts at the end of 2019, so seniors would have been drawing down their nest egg even faster than normal without this relief