Public Law No: 117-7 (04/14/2021)

This bill makes several budgetary and technical changes to provisions under Medicare and Medicaid.

The bill continues to exempt Medicare from sequestration until December 31, 2021. (Sequestration is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.)

The bill also specifically

• applies certain modified payment limits to rural health clinics that temporarily enrolled in Medicare during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) or that applied to enroll by December 31, 2020; and
• preserves higher Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital payments for public hospitals in California under forthcoming payment methodology changes.