Nine months after passing the $2 trillion CARES Act, Congress passed a new COVID-19 stimulus package. The new bill, the $900 billion Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, now just requires President Trump’s signature.
Yes, the bill includes another round of onetime stimulus checks (just $600 this time, which many feel is not even close to a sufficient amount). But there’s a lot more in there—much of which could directly impact your health in the coming months. Here are just a few important health-related provisions to know about.
1. Funding for vaccines, testing, and hospitals.
The bill provides billions of dollars in funding for vaccine doses (so they can be offered for free to those that need them), to distribute the doses, to increase testing, and to better support hospitals during the pandemic.
Specifically, it allocates $20 billion for buying vaccine doses, $8 billion to distribute vaccines, $20 billion to help states with COVID-19 testing, and $3 billion to health care providers and hospitals, CNN explains.
2. Increased nutrition assistance benefits.
The new stimulus package will provide $13 billion to increase supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits by 15% for six months, CNBC reports, but it will not expand the requirements for eligibility for the program. However, the bill does open up the pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program benefits to more families.
Other programs aimed at reducing food insecurity will also get some money from the bill. The Emergency Food Assistance Program will receive $400 million that will go to food banks and community food pantries, CNN says. Another $175 million will go to food assistance programs for seniors, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which serves low-income people over the age of 60, will receive $13 million.
3. No more mandatory paid sick leave.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which passed in mid-March, required mandatory paid sick leave for people who are quarantined due to COVID-19, experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, caring for someone who is quarantined due to COVID-19, or caring for children who can’t be in school due to the pandemic.
Those provisions were set to expire on December 31, 2020 and, thanks to some maneuvering by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, were not renewed in the new bill, Buzzfeed News reports. The bill does still provide an optional program for businesses to receive tax credit reimbursement for paid sick leave that they give to employees through March 2021.
However, certain states (including New York) have their own laws about mandatory paid sick leave, which supersede the federal policy.
4. Extended protection from evictions.
Stable housing is essential—especially in a pandemic, which is why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a temporary nationwide eviction moratorium starting in September. This bill extends that ban, but only through the end of January. However, the eviction moratorium doesn’t stop evictions, it only delays them.
The bill also provides an additional $25 billion to help those who lost their source of income during the pandemic and need rental assistance to pay overdue rent or bills or future costs, CNBC explains. To be eligible to receive the emergency rental assistance funds (up to 12 months of rent in most cases, but some may receive up to 15 months), renters must be able to show that their household’s income is below 80% of the median income in their area. Additionally, someone in their household must have qualified for unemployment benefits or lost at least part of their income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They must also be able to show that they’re actually at risk of losing their home.
In a year full of so much worry and so many challenges (especially for those who were already in a vulnerable spot), it’s frustrating that getting evicted has to be one of those concerns.
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