The public health emergency issued by the federal Department of Health and Human Services is scheduled to expire next weekend, but health officials in North Texas are hoping the measure will be extended. HHS has extended the declaration eight times since the pandemic started, with each extension lasting an additional 90 days.
The current declaration is scheduled to expire April 16.
"This really hits states that didn't expand Medicaid worst," says DFW Hospital Council President Stephen Love. "There are 12 states, Texas being one of those, that did not."
The declaration paid states an additional six percent in Medicaid reimbursement and kept people on Medicaid rolls. The declaration also allowed for easier reimbursement for telehealth.
People signing up for healthcare on the insurance marketplace could also receive additional subsidies. Love says that impacted 1.2 million people in Texas, saying that was "not surprising because we did not expand Medicaid."
Love says an extension would ensure COVID treatment for current patients is not interrupted.
"It's very important, too, because we don't know what's going to happen with [sub-variant] BA.2," he says. "It would be very difficult to remove [the declaration] and then need to re-institute it."
Through Thursday, the Department of State Health Services said hospitals in Texas had 920 COVID-19 patients, down from a peak of 13,341 January 20, 2022.
According to the CDC, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was responsible for 72.2% of cases last week; an average of 26,596 cases was reported each day for the week ending this Wednesday, an increase of 4.9% from the week before.
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