SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Chris Murphy (D-CT) to press Senate leaders to include relief specifically for children’s hospitals and pediatric health care providers in the next COVID-19 relief package. In their letter, the Senators raised concerns that hospitals serving children cannot continue to sustain the expected $10 billion in losses in the next several months.
Starting in January, children’s hospitals sustained deep revenue losses when they paused non-urgent and elective surgeries to help free up capacity for COVID-19 cases. At the same time, their costs for additional personal protective equipment (PPE), testing, and other supplies rose sharply. Parents and patients also suffered when they were forced to wait months for the specialized diagnostic or therapeutic treatments they could only receive at children’s hospitals.
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“We continue to learn more about the effect of COVID-19 on children, and are deeply troubled by reports of a new inflammatory disease in children that may be linked to the coronavirus outbreak. As this outbreak continues, we are worried about the pandemic’s negative impact on the national network of pediatric health care providers, our best experts in caring for our country’s young people,” wrote the Senators in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “We stand ready to support our country’s pediatric hospitals and providers to ensure they get the help they need. We urge you to include federal funding for our children’s hospitals as they continue to play a vital role in our nation’s fight against COVID-19 and provide the necessary care to our health system’s most vulnerable children.”
Along with Durbin, Smith, Klobuchar, Bennet, and Murphy, the letter was also signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tom Carper (D-DE), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Doug Jones (D-AL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
