$1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill pares down healthcare provisions

Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

The White House on Thursday announced a tentative agreement on a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, with billions earmarked for healthcare investments.

If passed, the bill could include tens of billions of dollars for home healthcare, an expansion of federal health benefits and $65 billion for the buildout of broadband infrastructure, seen as a critical component to telehealth.

WHY THIS MATTERS

However, CNN reported that the new deal, which is a far smaller package than the $2.2 trillion American Jobs Plan the White House initially envisioned, scraps proposals to spend $400 billion expanding access to home-based or community-based care and improving the wages of caregivers.

"This group did not want to go along with any of my Family Plan issues, the human infrastructure that I talk about," President Joe Biden said in remarks following a meeting with the bipartisan group of senators.

The expansion of access to long-term care services and other healthcare-related measures under Medicaid was the second largest measure in the initial proposal released in March.

The original bill would have also boosted home healthcare worker wages from $12 an hour and paved the way for home healthcare workers to unionize. 

Those healthcare investments could be included in a separate, parallel bill Democrats are hoping to pass through a process known as reconciliation, which allows for a simple majority passage without the need for any Republican votes.

Biden said he would not sign the bipartisan infrastructure bill without the additional piece of legislation.

"We need physical infrastructure, but we also need the human infrastructure as well," he said. "If this is the only thing that comes to me, I'm not signing it. It's in tandem."

The Democrats' bill would extend Medicare enrollment to Americans 60 years old and expand benefits such as senior dental care and hearing aids, all of which would be paid for through prescription drug pricing reform, according to an Associated Press report.

THE LARGER TREND

The White House's original $2 trillion American Jobs Plan drew immediate support from provider groups after it was announced in April. At the time, the American Hospital Association commended the proposal, but said more could be done to support healthcare infrastructure.

The AHA pointed specifically to investments into hospitals' physical infrastructures, the Hospital Preparedness Program, digital health and data frameworks, the healthcare workforce, the medical supply chain, and behavioral health access.

The initial proposal also included $30 billion for future pandemic preparedness by boosting medical manufacturing, investing in research, and development and creating jobs, and $28 billion toward the modernization of federal buildings including VA hospitals.

The first prong of President Biden's Build Back Better plan, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill known as the American Rescue Plan, did not include relief funding for hospitals as recommended by the AHA.

The president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. Ada Stewart, said in March when the bill was first introduced, that funding would help promote health equity in the United States.

However, the bill did include a number of measures that would be credit positive for nonprofit hospitals, according to Fitch Ratings.

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Email the writer: nathaneddy@gmail.com