Now that practicing medicine across state lines prohibitions have been lifted, can patients access providers in other states’ ‘live health’ programs?
Nobody wonders.
Senate GOP releases coronavirus relief plan with up to $1,200 in cash payments to individuals
Lauren Hirsch
Jacob Pramuk
KEY POINTS
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unveils Senate Republicans’ next coronavirus relief plan.
It includes cash payments of up to $1,200 for individuals, which starts to phase out at $75,000 in adjusted gross income.
The Senate has been under immense pressure to get a deal done with the House and administration as quickly as possible.Still, the latest package may get caught up in political wrangling.
Senate Republicans released their proposal for a third coronavirus relief package Thursday as Washington moves swiftly to try to head off economic disaster.
The 247-page legislation introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, expected to cost at least $1 trillion, includes cash payments to Americans. The measure — the final form of which will be subject to talks with Democrats and the White House — also includes relief for small businesses and major industries hammered by the global pandemic.
“We’re here, and we are ready to act as soon as an agreement with our colleagues across the aisle can be reached,” the Kentucky Republican said in releasing the plan that aims to avert calamity as the outbreak grinds American life to a halt.
An aid for the Democratic House Appropriations Committee said the committee is disappointed in the lack of supplemental funding for federal state and local response.
“The Appropriations Committee is working on robust funding for a strong federal, state, and local coronavirus response to include in the phase three bill. Supplemental appropriations are an essential part of a whole-of-government strategy to address this pandemic and it is irresponsible for Senate Republican leadership to omit these needed resources from its proposal,” he said in a statement.
McConnell said the bill includes four major components: “direct financial help” for Americans, “rapid relief” for small businesses, “significant steps to stabilize our economy” and “more support” for health-care professionals and patients.
Here are some of the details of the plan, according to Senate Republicans:
Cash payments of up to $1,200 would go to individuals, with up to $2,400 for couples. The sum would increase by $500 for every child. The check totals would start to phase out above $75,000 in adjusted gross income based on 2018 tax returns. People with no federal tax liability would get only $600.
Extend the tax filing deadline to July 15 from April 15.
Corporations could delay estimated tax payments until Oct. 15. Employers and self-employed people could delay payroll taxes.
Up to $50 billion for airlines, $8 billion for cargo air carriers, and $150 billion for other severely distressed businesses. The government has the right to “participate in the gains” of any business it lends money to.
For two years, no executive at a company receiving a business loan may make more than $425,000 in total compensation. Executives whose salary has already been determined through collective bargaining agreements may be exempt from that restriction.
Any company with less than 500 employees is entitled to a small business loan. The cap of that loan is either $10 million or the average of monthly payments. Businesses use the loan to pay for payroll including paid sick leave, salaries, mortgages, rent, utilities or other debt obligations.
All private health plans must cover testing without cost-sharing and increase funding for community health centers. It also aims to spur the hiring of more health care professionals to fight the pandemic.
The plan gives the Education Department authority to suspend federal student loan payments for up to three months.
The Senate has been under immense pressure to get a deal done with the House and Trump administration as quickly as possible. The ailing U.S. airline industry, which is expecting financial relief from the package, has rung the alarm of the catastrophic impact the halt in travel has on business. It is unclear how much longer companies can stay afloat without federal relief.
Workers have lost jobs at shuttered restaurants and bars. Lawmakers have expressed particular concern about how the global pandemic will hit American small businesses.
Adding to the urgency, two congressmen have tested positive for the coronavirus, while others are in self-quarantine.
Still, the latest package may get caught up in political wrangling.
Some Democrats, and some Republicans, have expressed previous concerns that sending checks to Americans may not be enough. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Thursday that “it makes no sense now to me.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer put down their marker for what their party would support, shortly after the Republicans released their plan. They called for a “Marshall Plan to rebuild our health care infrastructure” along with provisions to boost workers.
“To earn Democratic support in the Congress, any economic stimulus proposal must include new, strong and strict provisions that prioritize and protect workers, such as banning the recipient companies from buying back stock, rewarding executives, and laying off workers,” the Democratic leaders said in a joint statement Thursday.
While the Republicans’ plan does cap the salary of executives who work at companies accepting federal aid, it does not ban buy-backs or forbid worker layoffs.
Once the Senate strikes an agreement and passes a relief package, it will head to the House, which is on a temporary recess. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told members Thursday that the chamber would not return until it is “in a position to vote on the third piece of emergency legislation to respond to the economic impact of this crisis.”
Meantime, McConnell indicated that even this next legislative package, likely to top $1 trillion, may not be enough to offer sufficient government relief as business across the U.S. economy grinds to a halt.
“This may not be the last piece of economic legislation we pursue,” he said.
Graham acknowledged the importance of getting the third proposal done quickly — by early next week.
“If we don’t, we’re going get our ass kicked,” he said Thursday. “So that’s why I think we have to do it. I’ll be the first to kick myself.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-updates-senate-republicans-to-release-relief-bill.html
NYC has 3,615 confirmed cases, including an inmate at Rikers Island, Mayor de Blasio says
New York City has 3,615 confirmed coronavirus cases, including an inmate at Rikers Island, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.
The possibility of COVID-19 spreading throughout the densely populated U.S. prison system has been a major concern among public officials.
“This inmate was in a housing unit with other inmates, all have been checked for symptoms,” de Blasio said at a press conference, adding that eight other prisoners have symptoms and have been moved to isolation in the communicable disease unit.
[ which means many inmates at Rikers. ]
US-Mexico border restrictions expected as coronavirus spreads, report says
The United States is expected to announce restrictions on travel across the border with Mexico as part of the effort to stem the tide of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report.
The restrictions are expected to be revealed Friday, according to the report by the Reuters news agency, which cited two officials familiar with the matter.
Those sources said that the restrictions on the U.S.-Mexico border would be similar to the agreement with Canada that was announced Wednesday by President Donald Trump. (CNBC)
A man in his 30s is latest coronavirus death in Los Angeles County
From CNN’s Cheri Mossburg
The latest person to die from coronavirus in Los Angeles County is a man in his 30s.
The man had an underlying health condition, and lived in a small community near Pasadena, California, Health Officer Barbara Ferrer said at a conference Thursday.
There are at least 231 cases of coronavirus in Los Angeles County, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
A second LAPD employee tests positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Sarah Moon
A second employee from the Los Angeles Police Department has tested positive for coronavirus, according to a statement from LAPD.
“The individual, who is a member of the Department’s senior staff exhibited flu-like symptoms last week and is resting at home. The employee is expected to make a full recovery,” LAPD said in a statement.
All of work spaces associated with this person will be disinfected by the end of the day Thursday, the department added.
On Sunday, the department said an LAPD officer was diagnosed with coronavirus.
The uniformed supervisor, who works LAPD’s Pacific Division, which includes Playa Del Rey, Venice and Westchester, “exhibited flu-like symptoms around March 5.
He is expected to make a full recovery, the LAPD said.
Just now, my friend posted that her husband’s hospital, where he is an anesthesiologist, has NO MORE N95 masks. PLEASE bring your masks to hospitals. Medical professionals cannot do their jobs without these masks!
Top Mexican banking and financial workers are under quarantine or are working from home after attending an event in the Pacific last week where at least one participant later tested positive for coronavirus.
In contrast to much of Latin America, Mexico’s government has taken a laissez-fire approach to tackling the virus and has allowed large events go ahead, including a banking conference in the beach resort of Acapulco and a music festival in Mexico City.
“Citibanamex attendees at the Banking Convention are in quarantine and working from home,” a spokesman for Citigroup Inc’s Mexican operations Citibanamex. “None of them have presented any symptoms related to coronavirus.”
The country registered its first death from the coronavirus, a 41-year-old diabetic Mexican man whose symptoms began last week, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
Children are expected to continue to attend UK schools from Monday if they have one parent classified by the government as a key worker.
Amid the first nationwide school closure in modern British history, Downing Street has said it wants to keep parents in work who are doing vital jobs – from NHS staff to social workers and delivery drivers – to support crucial sectors that ensure the country continues to function amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Washington state in the US has reported eight more deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the death toll there to 74, the most of any American state.
(Guardian)
@OneMoreToGo2021 I believe former Congressman Chris Collins recently was convicted and is now in Federal Prison for his insider trading… so its definitely not legal. Nor is being a member of Congress a shield.
Recording shows Senate intel chair warned of coronavirus disruption in private weeks ahead of time
Weeks before President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, Sen. Richard Burr privately offered a grim prognosis for the outbreak while previewing some of the massive disruptions soon to come, according to a previously unreported recording obtained by NPR.
In the recording, which NPR reports came from the North Carolina Republican’s remarks at a private luncheon late last month, Burr said that the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak “is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic,” which killed an estimated 50 million worldwide.
“There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” said Burr, who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee. Burr also authored the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, the 2006 law that formulated the federal response to outbreaks.
In his comments to the Tar Heel Circle in North Carolina on Feb. 27, Burr gave attendees a chilling warning about the severity of the coronavirus at a time when there were only a little over a dozen reported confirmed cases in the U.S. and President Donald Trump was suggesting that number would drop down to zero in short order.
But many of Burr’s warnings to the group later came to pass.
He instructed attendees to reconsider traveling to Europe, a suggestion that came about two weeks before the president announced a travel ban for foreigners coming to the U.S. from most of Europe.
“You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they’re making to Europe is essential or whether it can be done on video conference. Why risk it?” he asked the group.
The senator also said that the virus could prompt the shuttering of schools, something that happened in his home state a couple of weeks later.
“There will be, I’m sure, times that communities, probably some in North Carolina, have a transmission rate where they say, let’s close schools for two weeks, everybody stay home,” he says in the recording.
Burr even forecast the mobilization of the military, something that has only begun to happen in recent days on a wider scale.
“We’re going to send a military hospital there, it’s going to be in tents and going to be set up on the ground somewhere,” he predicted, noting that "It’s going to be a decision the president and DoD make. And we’re going to have medical professionals supplemented by local staff to treat the people that need treatment.”
Burr’s tone in private went well beyond an op-ed he co-authored with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), reassuring Americans that although they were rightfully concerned about the outbreak, it was being properly handled by the authorities.
“Thankfully, the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus, in large part due to the work of the Senate Health Committee, Congress, and the Trump administration,” the two senators wrote. “The work of Congress and the administration has allowed U.S. public health officials to move swiftly and decisively in the last few weeks.”
The Trump administration has faced fierce criticism for not taking the outbreak seriously enough at its outset and for fumbling the early testing process — issues the White House is still scrambling to address.
There are now more than 9,000 reported cases in the U.S., and Americans have been advised to “hunker down” in an attempt to contain the spread of more infections.
Great to see more coverage of this! Interestingly, one would think Trump himself was being briefed on all the same things Burr was being briefed on at the same time. I wonder what Trump’s family members did with regard to their own stock holdings during the past couple of months?
Wisconsin: Gov. Evers announced the first two coronavirus deaths in the state. One, a man in his 50s, resided in Fond du Lac County. The other, a man in his 90s, resided in Ozaukee County. Ozaukee County is immediately to the north of Milwaukee County, which has the most cases in Wisconsin. Fond du Lac County is north and west of Milwaukee County, but still considered to be in southeast Wisconsin.
Modeling data from China shows that 4 out of 5 people diagnosed with coronavirus contracted it from someone they didn’t know
Of the many things that have happened in the past week since CNN’s last town hall, Dr. Sanjay Gupta said one of the most surprising to him was new data from China that showed 80% of coronavirus patients contracted the virus from someone they didn’t know.
“There is a message in there, I think for all of us,” Gupta said. “We are, as I said, all dependent on each other more than ever, and more than I can certainly remember in my lifetime, and it’s why we all have to behave like we have the virus … you will be more careful, you will be more mindful, you will slow down.” (CNN)
Haiti is now in full lockdown after reporting its first two cases of coronavirus
From CNN’s Etant Dupain in Port-au-Prince
Caribbean nation Haiti is now in full lockdown after President Jovenel Moise announced the country’s first two cases of coronavirus.
President Jovenel Moise told a news conference that all ports, airports and borders would be closed from midnight, though they would remain open for goods traffic.
Schools, universities and industrial parks are to close from today, and a curfew will be in force from 8pm to 5am. Flights from Europe, Latin America and Canada were already suspended and restrictions had been imposed on the border with the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
During a news conference, President Moise said one infected person is a 60-year-old Belgian man who traveled to Haiti from Europe recently. He runs an orphanage in Haiti.
The other confirmed case is a French citizen.
Haiti has a population of more than 11 million people, and is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, according to the CIA World Factbook. (CNN/Guardian)
[ this will be a mess. ]
WA DOH new numbers:
Total tests processed to date: 20,712
Negative 19,336
Positive 1,376 (6.6%)
Quite a ramp up in test processing.
All deaths are in the over 39 age groups.
Here’s the bill that Republicans just proposed: https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Coronavirus%20Tax%20Relief%20Legislative%20Text.pdf
the leave starts on page 35.
If I’m reading correctly, the up to 1200/2400 that the GOP is proposing is actually just a borrowing against next year’s tax credits. So it’s a loan…
@MaineLonghorn - thinking of you and your dad during this difficult time.
Shortage of medical necessities dire. PLEASE spread the word in your communities!
Somebody is asking state officials to hold off on releasing their unemployment numbers. Somebody.
Our town’s hardware store is collecting masks from people around our area to deliver to one of the local hospitals. They also promised to donate any of the masks they have on order if they are ever delivered.
The inside story of the CPAC scare: When the coronavirus passed within a handshake of the president, no public health agency took charge
Interesting read
Based on https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Coronavirus%20Tax%20Relief%20Legislative%20Text.pdf …
Looks like taxpayers who had approximately $24k-$75k (single) or $48k-$150k (married joint) income would get the maximum tax credit ($1,200 single or $2,400 married joint).
Lower income (minimum $2,500 income) taxpayers who paid less than $1,200 (or $2,400) in 2018 federal income tax would get a credit only up to the amount of their federal income tax, or $600 (or $1,200) minimum. Higher income taxpayers would lose 5% of their income over $75k (or $150k), so those with income over $99k (or $198k) would get no credit.
But what happens if someone did not file a tax return for 2018? Many low income people are not required to file tax returns (although some may have done so to claim EITC or get refunds on overwithheld income tax).