The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act)

From ACCSES:

Today is the day we have been waiting for, as the U.S. House of Representatives released the draft text of the $3 trillion dollar stimulus today. The bill is titled The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, or the HEROES Act.

This bill will begin in the House and then go to the Senate. The House has scheduled the vote for Friday, where it is likely to pass. There have been indications from the Senate and the White House that there is not as much interest in a fourth stimulus now as there had been a few weeks ago, so this bill is not expected to move as quickly as the prior stimulus bills.

This bill includes additional support for Home and Community-Based Services (Medicaid services begins at page 189), including increased pay and hazard pay for home health workers and direct support professionals, funding for PPE, increased FMAP, and funding for individuals who are waitlisted by states for HCBS services.

Nonprofit HCBS providers are included as organizations with which the State should engage on expanded services. This draft bill also contains a provision that would include nonprofits in the Main Street Lending Program (beginning at page 1063). It does not appear to include a provision protecting self-insured employers, but there is support for some further relief in both the Senate and House, so we will continue advocating for it.

We will break the bill down further this week, but here is a brief summary of the bill and the swirl of politics around it from CNBC. At 1,815 pages, this bill has many other provisions in it, including increased funding to the States, extensions of the additional $600 in unemployment compensation, another round of direct payments to individuals, voting rights protections (including for people with disabilities), and funding for the U.S. Postal Service.