Letter to Congress Urging Extension of Sequestration Moratorium
As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, Congress extended the moratorium on the 2 percent sequestration which was initiated as part of the Interim Final Rules for Covid-19 in March and April 2020. At that time, the moratorium on the sequestration was to end on 12/31/20; however, due to the law signed on December 27, 2020, it was delayed until second quarter 2021 (April 1, 2021).
The sequestration is the 2 percent Medicare discount applied to every CPT®/HCPCS code. Rather than Medicare paying 80 percent and the beneficiary or secondary insurance paying the remining 20 percent, Medicare only pays 78 percent. The additional 2 percent is not made up by the beneficiary or secondary insurance. As a response to many providers still feeling the impact of closures, decreased services, and overall financial impact due to Covid-19, the American Medical Association and American College of Radiology, among others, have submitted a letter to Congress urging them to extend the moratorium on the 2 percent sequestration which is scheduled to begin on April 1, 2021.
