What your health plan will cover if you get coronavirus
No co-pays for testing, but treatments another matterAmy Goldstein Washington Post
...President Donald Trump announced health insurers had pledged to eliminate “all co-payments for coronavirus treatments” and “extend insurance coverage to those treatments.”
That is not exactly correct. A broad swath of the nation’s private health insurers has agreed to waive the charges for a coronavirus test for their members. But they have not committed to cover the cost of care for those sickened by the virus. You are still responsible for out of pocket expenses, such as co-pays.
Until very recently, when only the CDC and then public health labs could perform the test, the government paid for the test itself, but not for the expense, say, of going to an emergency room to get tested. The scenario is more complicated now that private testing companies have started to get involved.
The people at greatest risk of finding a coronavirus test unaffordable are the 27 million uninsured Americans. Some of them may be especially vulnerable to infection, working in low-wage jobs, such as in food service, that come without health benefits and expose them to the public.
Quest said in its statement that it had not decided a price for those who are uninsured. “We have not yet finalized our uninsured patient price,” adding, “Our goal is to enable broad access.”
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