RSteve
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RSteve says: To me, the information in the article below is new. I did not know that the health insurance companies had covered all the costs of Covid treatment,sans co-pay. I thought it was paid for as any other illness/treatment.(Was I the only one who didn't know this?)
Large insurance companies waived cost-sharing for coronavirus care in 2020, but it's back in 2021
By Christopher Rowland Washington Post
SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 — 10:24PM
In 2020, as the pandemic took hold, U.S. health insurance companies declared they would cover 100 percent of the costs for COVID treatment, waiving co-pays and expensive deductibles for hospital stays that frequently range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But this year, most insurers have reinstated co-pays and deductibles for COVID patients, in many cases even before vaccines became widely available. The companies imposed the costs as industry profits remained strong or grew in 2020, with insurers paying out less to cover elective procedures that hospitals suspended during the crisis.
Now the financial burden of COVID is falling on patients across the country, varying widely by health-care plan and geography, according to a survey of the two largest health plans in every state by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
The reintroduction of cost-sharing mainly affects people with private or employer-based insurance.
Patients with no insurance can have 100 percent of their expenses covered by the federal government, under a special program set up by the government for the pandemic, with hospitals reimbursed for care at Medicare rates.
COVID patients with Medicaid continue to be protected from cost-sharing, insurance specialists said.
Patients on Medicare could face out-of-pocket costs if they do not have supplemental insurance.
Large insurance companies waived cost-sharing for coronavirus care in 2020, but it's back in 2021
By Christopher Rowland Washington Post
SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 — 10:24PM
In 2020, as the pandemic took hold, U.S. health insurance companies declared they would cover 100 percent of the costs for COVID treatment, waiving co-pays and expensive deductibles for hospital stays that frequently range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But this year, most insurers have reinstated co-pays and deductibles for COVID patients, in many cases even before vaccines became widely available. The companies imposed the costs as industry profits remained strong or grew in 2020, with insurers paying out less to cover elective procedures that hospitals suspended during the crisis.
Now the financial burden of COVID is falling on patients across the country, varying widely by health-care plan and geography, according to a survey of the two largest health plans in every state by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
The reintroduction of cost-sharing mainly affects people with private or employer-based insurance.
Patients with no insurance can have 100 percent of their expenses covered by the federal government, under a special program set up by the government for the pandemic, with hospitals reimbursed for care at Medicare rates.
COVID patients with Medicaid continue to be protected from cost-sharing, insurance specialists said.
Patients on Medicare could face out-of-pocket costs if they do not have supplemental insurance.
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