If the COVID-19 public health emergency is not extended next month, millions of Americans across the country are at risk of losing additional SNAP and Medicaid benefits, access to telehealth, and other federal aid they have relied on for the past two years. .

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, renewed the declaration on January 16, 2022, with an expiration date of April 15. But congressional Republicans have asked President Joe Biden not to renew the public health emergency and to begin a phase-out plan.

“Today we call on your administration to do what many states and other nations have already done: accept that COVID-19 is endemic, acknowledge that current harsh government interventions do more harm than good, and start over immediately. The process by which you can undo PHE [emergencia de salud pública] so that our country can return to normal,” the Republican members of Congress wrote in a letter, Quoted by NPR.

More than 70 House Republicans, led by Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Brett Guthrie and Morgan Griffiths, signed the letter to Biden and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.

Lawmakers have asked Biden to submit a plan to Congress no later than March 15.

Republicans are now making the call that coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have fallen sharply after the surge fueled by the infectious Omicron variant, and deaths are also beginning to fall, though the seven-day average is still 2,300 a day, as of Thursday.

In response to the public health emergency, the Federal Coronavirus First Families Response Act was passed in March 2020, which allows supplemental emergency funding for families receiving SNAP benefits.

Additional funding provides an additional $100 per month, which gets you up to your maximum monthly benefit level, but this extra help will disappear when you’re done with enrollment.

The public health emergency has also relaxed guidelines for telehealth appointments, making it easier for Americans to access health care during the coronavirus pandemic.

More flexible guidelines have allowed providers to make it easier to serve virtual patients, even allowing them to provide telehealth across state lines in some cases. It also allowed licensed service providers to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth without the need for a personal visit.

The statement also asked insurance providers, Medicaid and Medicare to cover the cost of a telehealth session. Once a public health emergency becomes in effect, many of these guidelines will be discontinued.

The number of children covered by Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, rose to a record 40 million during the pandemic, helped by a provision in Congress that prohibits states from canceling enrollment during a public health emergency.

However, at least 6.7 million children are at risk of losing that coverage and being left without insurance for a period after the emergency ends, according to the New analysis published Thursday By Georgetown Center for Children and Families. That could happen in July, but the Department of Health and Human Services has promised to give states 60 days’ notice.

The public health emergency has created a federal mandate that requires that no one enrolled in Medicaid in their state lose coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Continuing Medicaid coverage gives states across the country 6.2 percent of federal funding if the state maintains enrollment levels. But this mandate will continue for as long as the public health emergency is in effect.

When the declaration of a public health emergency ends, Medicaid officials will need to reassess the criteria for each beneficiary based on changes in income, residence, and other factors. The Biden administration is giving states a year to go through the process.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as of July 2021, there were 76.7 million Americans, or one in four people, enrolled in Medicaid.

In addition, the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance and Personal Care Services program, available through the state Medicare program, allows people with disabilities to live at home in their communities while receiving assistance with tasks such as getting out of bed, showering, using the bathroom, preparing, preparing, and eating meals, and daily tasks other.

When the declaration of a public health emergency ends, these changes will take effect unless they are rescinded, and millions of people with disabilities may be at risk of losing daily services.