April 10 (UPI) — President Joe Biden signed a bill Monday to end the national emergency over COVID-19.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., terminates the national emergency declared by former President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020. It does not affect a separate public health emergency issued that January.
The president had previously planned to end the national and public health emergencies on May 11, making that announcement in January.
The bill passed through the Senate with a bipartisan 68-23 vote after a largely Republican-backed vote in the House.
The Biden administration initially opposed the bill and a separate measure led by Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., citing “significant impacts” on the government and healthcare system in a statement to the bill’s sponsors on Jan. 30.
“First, an abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals, and doctors’ offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans,” the statement said.
The statement also emphasizes that ending the public health emergency would also end Title 42, which the Biden administration attempted to end last fall before being blocked by a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Both declarations provide flexibility for the federal government and government healthcare programs. Medicare and Medicaid recipients did not face certain charges related to testing for COVID-19, including at-home testing, for example. Some Medicare and Medicaid waivers will end with the public health declaration, while others will stay in place for another six months.
Healthcare facilities also were granted waivers under the public health declaration, giving them flexibility over patient care and capacity limits.
Access to telehealth broadened widely because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent public health emergency. Telehealth will remain unaffected, as will access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, including Paxlovid and Lagevrio.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that the bill signed Monday does not end the public health emergency set to expire on May 11.