What does the end of the pandemic public health emergency mean for you
The Philadelphia Inquirer
President Joe Biden on Monday announced the public and national health emergencies for COVID-19 will end May 11, nearly three years after the pandemic began.
The public health emergency dates back to January 2020 and has been renewed by the Department of Health and Human Services a dozen times, most recently in January. Then-President Donald Trump declared a national health emergency in March 2020.
The emergency declarations allowed millions of people to receive Medicaid, the state and federally funded health coverage program for low-income families and individuals. The Urban Institute, a Washington think tank, estimated in a December report that 18 million people will lose Medicaid coverage within the 14 months after the declarations expire, including 3.2 million children who will transfer to Children’s Health Insurance Programs. An additional 3.8 million people will lose insurance entirely.
The emergency declarations also allowed the government to provide free COVID vaccines, tests, and some treatments to every American. That will change when the declarations expire.