AHA expresses support for bipartisan bill to eliminate COVID-19 provider relief fund tax penalties

The AHA today conveyed support for the Eliminating the Provider Relief Fund Tax Penalties Act of 2020, a bipartisan proposal to ensure that vital funding through the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund and similar programs provided in response to COVID-19 is not taxable.

“Currently, tax-paying health care providers lose at least 21% of the benefit of these funds as a result of their tax status,” AHA wrote to the bill’s sponsors, Reps. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa and Neal Dunn, R-Fla. “With the enactment of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Congress recognized the urgent need to shore up our nation’s health care providers so they could support their communities during the current pandemic. To then tax those same resources runs counter to that goal.”