Several Health Insurance Companies recently announced that they intend to severely limit payouts for Covid-19 treatment and will instead push these costs onto their insureds. Since the beginning of the pandemic, most fully insured Covid-19 patients had all of their hospitalization costs waived by their insurance company, but that situation is apparently coming to an end.
The decision to now push more Covid-19 treatment costs onto their clients is surprising in light of the higher profits insurance companies have enjoyed over the last 18 months. Due to the pandemic lock-down, few people were going to the doctor and were also choosing to put elective procedures on hold. Since they didn’t have to pay for all these visits and procedures, the insurance companies were able to pocket these funds as opposed to paying medical bills.
The Cost of Treating COVID-19 is Substantial – Now More of These Costs Will Be Patient Responsibility
The costs involved with treating a patient with Covid-19 can be substantial – often six figures or more. Until now, patients were receiving treatment without having to pay anything out of pocket. Patients will now have to deal with the financial burden of paying a substantial portion of these medical bills – even if fully insured.
Vaccinations for COVID-19 will continue to be paid for by insurance companies – most likely because insurance companies see that as a preventative measure to keep costs down and patients alive. The Centers for Disease Control released a recent study that found that unvaccinated Covid-19 patients were 29 times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated individuals.
The pandemic has been a health and social nightmare for the entire country – not to mention the effect on the economy as a whole. It now appears that going forward, the cost of getting medical treatment for this disease is going to become a nightmare for individuals and their families as well.