End to policy to hit poor population

US President Joe Biden signed a bill on Monday terminating the country's COVID-19 national emergency, a month earlier than the administration had planned. A leading epidemiologist said the decision will add burden to the financially challenged population in the United States.

The new bill immediately ended the US national emergency over COVID-19 enacted during the previous administration and continued through the Biden administration.

Former US president Donald Trump declared the national emergency over COVID-19 in March 2020, which allowed for federal funding to be freed up to states and cities for efforts including testing, vaccination and treatment, among other emergency measures.

"The new change hits hard the poor population as free COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and testing, which was previously covered by the government will now have to be paid by health insurance," Zhang Zuofeng, professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said on Wednesday.

"More than 5 million poor people in the United States will lose their eligibility for Medicaid which they received during the pandemic."

Biden signed the bill following a 68-23 pass by the Senate at the end of March, and a 220-210 vote by the House in late January.

Monday's signing marked the winding down of several policies and provisions the country had put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus, with several more, including the Title 42 immigration policy, set to end along with the public emergency over COVID-19 next month.

The resolution will end a number of waivers for federal health programs Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP. However, many of the changes to healthcare regulations have become largely irrelevant as COVID-19 precautions have been relaxed, a report of The Hill said.

The US is also set to put an end to its public health emergency over COVID-19 on May 11, which may institute sweeping changes across the healthcare system.

Xinhua