Contact State, Federal Lawmakers to Urge Billions More in Financial Support for Hospitals

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Action needed:

Urge state and federal lawmakers to allocate billions more in funding to support hospitals and health systems in their efforts to fight COVID-19 and help California safely reopen.

  • Federal: CHA has developed a template letter for members to send to their congressional representatives as well as Sens. Feinstein and Harris. Please email a copy of your letter to Dawn Vicari at dvicari@calhospital.org. To find your representative’s contact information, visit www.house.gov/representatives/find; both senators’ contact information can be found here.
  • State: Call or write both your state senator and assemblymember, asking them to support hospitals’ budget requests of more than $4 billion. CHA has also developed a template letter; email your letter to Dawn Vicari at dvicari@calhospital.org so that it can be emailed to legislators and their staff. Contact your state representatives here.

Timing:

Within the next week. 

Background:

State

On May 14, the Governor will release his revisions to the state budget. Legislators need to return a final budget to the Governor by June 15. CHA is asking the Governor to provide $1 billion to hospitals immediately, as well as $3.1 billion in state funds for an 1115 emergency disaster waiver to be submitted to the federal government. The $1 billion would be made available to hospitals immediately while the waiver funding, if approved, would not be available for several months. 

CHA is asking members to call or write their state senator and assemblymember, urging support for this budget request.

Federal

Members of Congress are currently discussing additional legislation to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. CHA is urgently requesting the inclusion of additional funding for hospitals and health systems to support expenses being incurred as a result of COVID-19 and to address the dramatic revenue loss due to the decline in the volume of routine care and procedures. Infographics supporting CHA’s requests are here.

While we recognize and appreciate the $175 billion Congress directed to hospitals and other providers already, we know that additional assistance is needed to preserve access to care and a stable health care delivery system. In CHA’s template letter, please include hospital-specific information that expresses the urgent need for additional funds to help with the expensive preparations and care you are providing to COVID-19 patients and the lost revenue due to the halting of routine procedures.