Laredo, TX—Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) announces $1,271,212,179 in federal funds to 1,223 health care providers in the state of Texas. This second round of funding, awarded through the CARES Act, will be used to help hospitals pay for the incurred costs of combating the coronavirus pandemic, such as buying more supplies, paying for overtime, and financing healthcare-related expenses of uninsured Americans who receive testing and treatment.

“Texas health care providers are on the front lines of this pandemic, working around the clock to defeat this virus,” said Congressman Cuellar. “This federal funding will help them treat uninsured Americans, maintain a strong workforce, buy critical supplies, and keep their doors open during this emergency. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to fight for our medical providers and personnel so they can continue to provide high-quality care for our communities during the coronavirus pandemic. I want to thank our brave doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals for keeping our communities safe and healthy.”

As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Congressman Cuellar helped secure $100 billion for health care providers across the United States. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has distributed over $39 billion of the $100 billion to hospitals across the country.  Earlier this month, Texas health care providers received over $2 billion.  Facilities and providers are allotted a portion of the funds based on their share of 2019 Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursements. 

• As a condition to receiving these funds, providers must agree not to seek collection of out-of-pocket payments from a COVID-19 patient that are greater than what the patient would have otherwise been required to pay if the care had been provided by an in-network provider.
• These funds will provide relief to both providers in COVID hotspot areas and those providers who are struggling to keep their doors open due to cancelled elective services.
• HHS is rapidly working on future targeted distributions to hospitals and providers that will focus on providers in hotspot COVID areas, rural providers, and providers with lower shares of Medicare reimbursement or who predominantly serve the Medicaid population.