NEW: President JoeBiden extends COVID-19 public health emergency past midterm elections
The public health emergency, which was set to expire Thursday, will now remain in place past the midterm elections, keeping millions of Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program beneficiaries who were in jeopardy of losing their coverage enrolled for several more months.The emergency declaration was first declared in January 2020 and has been extended in increments of 90 days since.
The emergency authorization has allowed vaccines, testing, and treatments to be offered for free throughout the pandemic. It also extends a practice that requires states to offer continuous enrollment for Medicaid and CHIP, public health insurance programs for low-income individuals, in order to receive additional federal funding, allowing some people who may have exceeded the income levels to qualify without a temporary or permanent lapse in coverage.
The decision comes as administration officials encourage people 5 and older to receive the omicron booster in anticipation of an uptick in cases going into the winter months and holiday season. Discussions have been ongoing about when the emergency designation should end, as the pandemic continues in its third year.
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