Locked Out of HHS’ Emergency Funding Commitment to Medicaid Providers? We Need Your Story!

Shortly after HHS announced its commitment of COVID-19 emergency funding to Medicaid providers on June 9, we learned that providers who received even small amounts of emergency relief because they are partially funded by Medicare were considered ineligible for funds from the Medicaid provider tranche. ANCOR is working aggressively to address this problem

Some providers are finding themselves ineligible because they received a minuscule amount of funding—in some cases, as little as $11—based on their Medicare revenue from the Emergency Fund’s General Distribution on April 10. It was clearly not the intent of Congress when it passed the CARES Act to block providers from both Medicare and Medicaid from receiving emergency relief, but that has been the unfortunate impact of HHS’ “enhanced portal” that opened on June 10.

To strengthen ANCOR’s advocacy, we encourage Medicaid providers of disability supports that are confronted by this situation to take this 3-minute survey so we can better understand your needs. While providers from all states are welcome to respond, we are particularly interested in responses from Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas because of the strategic committees on which Senators from those states sit.

Providers engaging in their own advocacy on this topic will find talking points below which we crafted for your convenience.

“A large swath of Medicaid-dependent providers of services to people with I/DD have been locked out of the Medicaid tranche because they received minuscule, unsolicited deposits from the first Medicare tranche. These providers desperately need help to continue to keep people with I/DD safe and healthy during this pandemic. At this point, HHS has been largely non-responsive to the needs of these providers. Please pressure HHS to either immediately reopen the Medicare portal OR release a new tranche for the locked out providers as soon as possible.”

You can identify your U.S. Representative and their contact information here. ANCOR members seeking congressional staff contacts or more information can reach out to Doris Parfaite-Claude, Federal Advocacy and Research Manager, at [email protected].