Stimulus Bill Includes Ban on Surprise Medical Bills

On Dec. 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 into law. The Act includes a $900 billion coronavirus relief package that provides funding for unemployment benefits, direct economic payments to individuals, vaccine distribution and rental assistance. It also includes the No Surprises Act, a ban on surprise medical bills, which takes effect beginning in 2022.

Health Plans Must Cover COVID-19 Vaccine Without Cost Sharing

On Dec. 12, 2020, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended use of Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 16 years of age and older. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine one day earlier.

COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Begins Following Emergency Use Authorization by FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for drugmaker Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, developed in partnership with German drugmaker BioNTech.

This EUA allows distribution of the vaccine to begin immediately in the United States, and some high-risk health care workers will begin receiving their first shot of the two-dose vaccine this week.

The authorization follows an endorsement from the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), composed of independent doctors, scientists and experts.

COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Prior to the FDA authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, federal officials had planned for 6.4 million doses to be distributed initially, with future shipments following shortly after. As high-risk groups, 

including health care workers and long-term care residents, begin to receive the COVID-19 vaccine before the end of 2020, it will likely still be months before vaccine distribution reaches the general public.

For more information on the coronavirus pandemic, contact Better Business Planning, Inc. today.

CDC Approves Recommendation for Vaccine Distribution

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Robert Redfield has approved a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. The approved interim recommendation first offers vaccine distribution to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities in the initial phase of the vaccination program before offering the vaccine to the general public.

PCORI Fee Amount Adjusted for 2021

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes a fee on health insurance issuers and self-insured plan sponsors in order to fund comparative effectiveness research. These fees are widely known as Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fees, and were originally scheduled to expire for plan or policy years ending on or after Oct. 1, 2019. However, a federal spending bill enacted at the end of 2019 extended the PCORI fees for an additional 10 years.