The AAMC joined 125 national and state health care organizations in a Feb. 12 letter urging congressional leadership to pass the Medicare Sequester COVID Moratorium Act (H.R. 315) — AAMC-supported legislation that would extend the current moratorium on the 2% Medicare sequester until the end of the public health emergency [see Washington Highlights, Jan. 29].
The letter stated that the groups “are deeply concerned that persistently high COVID-19 rates will continue to stress the entire health care system, especially physician practices,” and that extending the sequester moratorium would “help alleviate the unrelenting fiscal demands of the pandemic.”
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260) extended the moratorium until March 31, but additional legislative action is needed to continue the moratorium going forward [see Washington Highlights, Dec. 23, 2020]. The AAMC signed on to a Feb. 2 letter to congressional leadership similarly asking them to extend the Medicare sequester moratorium by passing H.R. 315 [see Washington Highlights, Feb. 3].“With the March 31 deadline looming, it is critical for Congress to take immediate steps to further postpone the imposition of the Medicare sequester,” the Feb. 12 letter concluded.