House approves $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief reconciliation bill

The House of Representatives Saturday voted 219-212 to approve a modified version of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, legislation to provide reconciliation protection for a roughly $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which includes a number of provisions that affect hospitals and health systems.

The Senate is expected to take up the legislation and amend it with its own COVID-19 reconciliation bill as soon as this week.

The House bill would expand subsidies for certain forms of health care coverage and includes provisions to bolster the nation’s COVID-19 health care response with additional resources for vaccines, treatment, personal protective equipment, testing, contact tracing and workforce development. Other health care-related provisions would provide funding to the Department of Labor for worker protection activities.