Alabama among 25 states urging Biden to end federal Public Health Emergency

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - GOP governors in 25 states, including Alabama, have written to President Joe Biden, asking the White House to end the federal Public Health Emergency issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In a letter to the president, Gov. Kay Ivey and other state chief executives cited increasing Medicaid costs due to expanded eligible populations as reasoning for ending the PHE.

According to the letter, since the beginning of the pandemic, states have added 20 million people to their Medicaid rolls. Those numbers continue to climb as the PHE is extended every 90 days and, in doing so, is costing the states millions of dollars.

“While the virus will be with us for some time, the emergency phase of the pandemic is behind us,” the letter reads. “We have come so far since the beginning of the pandemic - we now have the tools and information necessary to help protect our communities from COVID-19.”

The letter states that President Biden, himself, addressed the pandemic during a nationally broadcast interview as being “over.”

The governors are asking the president to allow the PHR to expire in April.

“It is time we move on from the pandemic and get back to life as normal,” the letter added. “We ask that you allow the PHE to expire in April and provide states with much-needed certainty well in advance of its expiration.”

Ivey has not yet released a public comment on the letter. Governor of other states who signed onto the letter include those in: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

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