The Biden administration announced Monday that it plans to end on May 11 a pair of emergency designations introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In both the national emergency and the public health emergency, both the Trump and Biden administrations implemented and expanded programs that were intended to provide relief when it came to paying for health care, testing and treatment for COVID-19 and making monthly student loan payments.
It also includes a controversial border program that makes it easier to deport foreign nationals, citing public health protections amid the pandemic.
The future of some of these programs is now tied up in legal battles.
The Biden administration’s announcement came on the eve of a scheduled vote on a bill backed by House Republicans, called the End the Pandemic Act, that would end the public health emergency on the same day the bill — which would still needs a Senate vote and President Biden’s signature — enacted.
Here are three things that could be reversed with the lifting of national and public health emergencies.
Title 42
Title 42 was a policy implemented by the Trump administration that allowed Border Patrol agents to deport foreign nationals at the border, citing public health protections related to the pandemic. The policy, which ignored and ultimately gutted the asylum system, has led to nearly 2.5 million encounters since its implementation in 2020, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The Biden administration, after taking office in January 2021, continued to implement the policy until the issue was legally bound. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in December overturned an order by a federal judge who ruled that the border policy should be ended.
A date has been set for oral arguments in March, with a final decision expected in June, a month after the public health emergency is scheduled to be lifted on May 11.
In a statement Monday, the Office of Management and Budget said the Biden administration “supports an orderly, predictable termination of Title 42, with sufficient time to implement alternative policies.”
The Department of Homeland Security has previously indicated that it is preparing to end Title 42 once the public health emergency is over.
Benefits for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries
After the public health emergency (PHE) was declared, government programs such as Medicaid were able to operate under special conditions, allowing beneficiaries to maintain their coverage during the pandemic.
Medicaid announced a series of guidelines last year on how to return to pre-pandemic norms, saying Medicaid agencies and the Children’s Health Insurance Program would be allowed to begin their “wind-down” period, or one month before the end of PHE. the same month in which it ends or the month after it ends.
Under the public health emergency, beneficiaries enrolled in traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage can also receive free at-home COVID-19 testing and treatment and pay no cost-sharing. It also requires private insurance companies to cover the cost of testing for COVID-19.
With the end of the public health emergency, Americans will have to start paying for tests and treatments for COVID-19 like Paxlovid, with insurance companies and manufacturers setting the price.
Federal Student Loan Repayment Pause
Student loan payments on debt serviced by the US Department of Education have been on hiatus since March 2020, with such loans also not accruing interest for nearly three years.
But the repeal of the national emergency that was used as the basis for authorizing the pause in payments could further complicate another Trump-era issue now tied up in the legal system.
The pause, which was extended six times under both the Trump and Biden administrations, is now tied to a student debt forgiveness program that the Biden administration is challenging at the Supreme Court level.
The Department of Education previously said that until it could implement the debt relief program, student loan payments would be suspended until “no later than” June 30, leaving borrowers feeling in limbo.