COVID-19 Update from the Administration for Community Living

Supporting Community Living during COVID-19: CARES Act and Civil Rights Protections

On Friday, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, into law. The Act provides a total of $2.2 trillion, with $955 million directed to ACL programs. On Saturday, the HHS Office of Civil Rights issued a bulletin to protect people with disabilities from unlawful discrimination in decisions about their treatment during the COVID-19 health care emergency. Together, these will provide significant support to older adults and people with disabilities. 

OCR Bulletin: Civil Rights, HIPAA, and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

OCR provided this bulletin to ensure that entities covered by civil rights authorities keep in mind their obligations under laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, and exercise of conscience and religion in HHS-funded programs. The bulletin states that, "…persons with disabilities should not be denied medical care on the basis of stereotypes, assessments of quality of life, or judgments about a person’s relative “worth” based on the presence or absence of disabilities or age. Decisions by covered entities concerning whether an individual is a candidate for treatment should be based on an individualized assessment of the patient and his or her circumstances, based on the best available objective medical evidence."