On January 30, the Biden Administration
communicated to Congress its intent to extend both the
COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency (PHE)
declarations to May 11, and then end both emergencies on that
date. This wind-down would align with the Administration’s
previous commitments to provide at least 60 days’ notice prior to
termination of the PHE.
The federal PHE provides health care enrollment flexibility,
expands access to telehealth services, and fast-tracks federal
COVID-19 tests, vaccines, and treatments. The declaration,
however, does not affect the related changes to Medicaid enacted
in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 as reported last
month in a CSAC
Weekly Bulletin. With the passage of the federal bill, the
continuous coverage requirements that paused all Medi-Cal
redeterminations since March 2020 would be decoupled from the PHE
termination date as of April 1, 2023, setting the stage for the
resumption of Medi-Cal redeterminations. Guidance documents
related to the PHE unwinding from the federal Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are available
here.
Among the effects of ending the federal PHE, according to the
White House, would be the termination of Title 42, a public
health, social welfare, and civil rights measure that gives the
federal government the ability to take emergency action to keep
communicable diseases out of the country, and that has limited
the inflow of migrants at the border since its invocation in
2020. The Biden Administration has attempted to end Title 42, but
that action to date has been held up in court.
