Page 14 - Bulletin Vol 25 No 3 - Sept-Dec 2020 - Final

News | Recent Legislative Victories in 2020

NATIONAL

McCarran-Ferguson
The Senate on Dec. 22 voted to repeal the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for health insurance companies by
passing HR 1418, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act. The House passed the bill on Sept. 21. President
Donald J. Trump is expected to sign the bill into law later this week. The ADA has been a “longtime advocate of this bill
that would reform the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 to ensure that health insurance companies are subject to the
same federal antitrust laws that nearly all other industries must comply with in the U.S.,” the Association wrote in an
email to dental leaders.

Read the full article in the ADA News:
https://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2020-archive/december/congress-passes-competitive-health-insurance-
reform-act
COVID Relief Package

Your advocacy has paid off! After thousands of grassroots emails from ADA members, as well as extensive lobbying
from the ADA’s Government Affairs team, Congress has passed an end of the year package. The Consolidated
Appropriations Act of 2021 funds the government through the end of fiscal year 2021 and also includes COVID relief.
The President is expected to sign this bill into law soon.
The bill contains numerous key provisions of significant importance to you, your practice and your patients, including:
• Making expenses paid for with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans tax deductible.
• Eliminating the requirement that PPP loan forgiveness would be reduced by the amount of the Economic
Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) grant that was received by the business.

• Allowing PPP borrowers to utilize the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC). The bill also increases the
age cap and percentage of eligible wages for that credit.

For more detailed information:
https://www.ada.org/~/media/CPS/Files/COVID/ADA_ADCPA_SBA_Loan.pdf

NEW YORK STATE

Dental Health Parity

On December 15, the dental telehealth parity bill -- A.10034 (Gottfried) / S.7879 (Rivera) -- passed unanimously by the
Legislature, was signed into law by the Governor as Chapter 328 of the Laws of 2020. This is a bill directed at so-called
“do-it-yourself” dentistry. It requires that dental telehealth services adhere to the standards of appropriate patient care
required in other dental healthcare settings and prohibits dental telehealth providers from attempting to waive liability for
their services. The first section of the bill requires adherence to standards of appropriate care. It also: requires that
dental telehealth providers identify themselves to patients and provide their New York state license number; prohibits a
dental telehealth provider from attempting to waive liability in advance of providing services; and prohibits a dental
telehealth provider from attempting to prevent a patient from filing a complaint with any governmental agency or
authority.

For more information:
https://nassaudental.org/news/article/Telehealth-Parity-Bill-Signed-into-Law.html

14 | Nassau County Dental Society ⬧ www.nassaudental.org