On March 11, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan that includes $48.3 billion for COVID-19 testing. The new law enables the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use the new funding for COVID-19 testing programs in its national strategy. In addition, the law also expanded COVID-19 vaccination efforts and included other key health care provisions supported by the CAP.
The CAP advocated for several provisions related to pathology and ensuring access to testing for patients, including the $48.3 billion. The funding for testing included moneys for contact tracing and sequencing programs, as well as funding for a national strategy and providing technical assistance, guidance, and grants to state, local, and territorial public health departments. The legislation also provided $1.733 billion for enhanced genomic sequencing.
Additionally, the law provided $7.5 billion to strengthen the medical supply chain. The law provided funding specifically for federal vaccine distribution programs and grant programs to support state, local, territorial, and tribal governments’ vaccination efforts.
The law also changed several federal health benefit programs. It aims to make the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges more affordable and increase Medicaid’s federal match for the states. The law further covered COVID-19 vaccines and treatments mandatory under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).