With the delta variant leading to a resurgence in new cases and hospitalizations for COVID-19, more Americans are being stuck with the bill now that their insurance providers are not covering fees they handled in 2020.
Jamie Azar, a preschool director in Georgia, is facing thousands of dollars in medical expenses after fighting the coronavirus and almost dying, the Star Tribune reported.
Azar had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in mid-July before testing positive for the virus within 11 days. Now, the preschool director, who brings in $36,000 a year, says she has bills she can't afford because her insurance company, like many others, has stopped footing the bill for COVID treatments.
"I'm very thankful to be home. I am still weak. And I'm just waiting for the bills to come in to know what to do with them," she said to the Tribune.
When the pandemic started, U.S. health insurance companies said they would cover 100% of all COVID treatments, waiving co-pays and deductibles for spendy hospital stays, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Related
As the pandemic continued to drag into this year, most insurers have now reinstated co-pays and deductibles for COVID patients, much to the chagrin of consumers.
One argument for providers returning to normal was the vaccine's approval and the option for adults to take it.
Dr. Michael Osterholm shared with News Talk 830 WCCO's Steve Simpson that vaccinations continue to help stop hospitalizations as most of those currently hospitalized are unvaccinated.
"To date, if you look, in fact, the vast majority 98% of those who are in hospitals right now and are severely ill are not vaccinated," Osterholm shared.
A survey of the two largest health plans in every state by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that financial burdens of COVID treatments are affecting patients differently depending on where they live and the plans they have.
The only states where 100% of treatments are still covered are Vermont and New Mexico. So Azar, like many, has been forced to pay for the treatments that saved her life due to United Healthcare reinstating its patient cost-sharing on Jan. 31.
While the federal government never mandated insurance companies to cover these costs, those who did acted voluntarily—still, complaints now say that insurers didn't communicate the reinstatement of pay clearly.
Related
Additionally, independent labs have been charging colossal amounts for COVID testing.
Jonathan McHale told USA Today his son took two tests for the COVID at an Arlington, Virginia pharmacy. While he may have expected a positive or negative test, he wasn't expecting the $1,728 bill that came with the results.
McHale shared that he did not know his son would be charged for the tests, and if he did, he would have sent him elsewhere.
"The lack of information and ability to make informed choices is so screwed up," said McHale. "They've got a license to go hog wild."
Congress had passed emergency legislation last year to get people quick and free COVID-19 tests. The legislation mandated that health insurance companies cover tests at no cost to the consumers but pay the list price for labs outside the insurers' network.
Related
Now, some insurers and consumers are protesting what they consider high-priced tests, as they can be 10 times the amount of Medicare's rate of $51 per test.
Some are even claiming that labs are profiteering from the amount they are charging for tests.
A study by Ge Bai, a Johns Hopkins University professor of accounting and health policy and management, found that some labs are charging outrageous amounts for tests. The prices ranged from one cent to $14,750, but Bai sees this as something that was bound to happen.
"What we see is not really surprising," Bai said. "It's inevitable."
Nonetheless, as insurers have returned to normal, those hospitalized for the virus should expect big bills. A UnitedHealthcare spokeswoman, Tracy Lempner, shared with the Tribune that those with basic plans like Azar would have an in-network deductible of $1,500 and an in-network out-of-pocket maximum of $4,000.
