Introduction of the Covid-19 Hospital Loan Forgiveness Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the COVID-19 Hospital Loan Forgiveness Act to provide immediate, vitally needed relief to hospitals and health care providers who are under water as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our nation's hospitals have invested heavily to prepare for the coronavirus pandemic. They canceled tens-of-thousands of elective surgeries and non-emergent patient tests at the government's request to help ensure adequate hospital capacity, preserve gear and equipment, and reduce the risk of unnecessary patient spread. This major shift has put some of America's hospitals on the brink of financial disaster.

Without further support, hospitals will face another financial crisis just months from now as the government begins to withhold Medicare payments for services provided after the pandemic fades and until the loans are repaid. While the $175 billion provider grant program, designed to provide support to all providers, is helpful, much more support is needed,

This legislation will provide Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments loan forgiveness to ensure the additional financial support hospitals and other providers direly need. Forgiveness would be for health care related expenses or lost revenues that are directly attributable to coronavirus. And, just like the requirement in the provider grant program, providers electing to have their advance payment loans forgiven would be obligated to abstain from balance or surprise billing any patient for COVID-related treatment.

The bill outlines: forgiveness would be for health care related expenses or lost revenues that are directly attributable to COVID-19, providers electing to have their advance payment loans forgiven would be obligated to abstain from balance billing any patient for COVID- related treatment, and criteria for transparency and accountability of the loan forgiveness, including no executive compensation.

Hospitals across my district have shared that in the absence of more financial support, including this forgiveness, it is possible some hospitals will be forced to close or significantly scale back operations. This would be a tragic consequence, especially if the country is hit with another round of the viral epidemic in the near future. I thank my colleague and fellow Ohioan Representative Bob Gibbs for his bipartisan work on this, and our growing list of bipartisan cosponsors--we look forward to working with the Senate to further action on hospital loan forgiveness.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source