California orders insurers to waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus testing
California on Thursday became the latest state to order insurance companies to waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus testing.
The California Department of Insurance and Department of Managed Health Care ordered all full-service commercial and Medi-Cal plans to “immediately reduce cost-sharing — including, but not limited to, co-pays, deductibles or coinsurance — to zero for all medically necessary screening and testing for COVID-19, including hospital, emergency department, urgent care and provider office visits where the purpose of the visit is to be screened and/or tested for COVID-19.”
Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation notes:
At a town hall meeting on Fox News Thursday, President Donald Trump acknowledged that his administration intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.
“We — when these trade deals kick in, you know this economy is the best economy we’ve ever had. It’s nothing to what it’s going to be when the trade deals kick in,” said Trump.
“But if you don’t cut something in entitlements, you’ll never really deal with that,” said the questioner.
“We’ll be cutting, but we’re also going to have growth like you’ve never had before,” said Trump.
Ah. Just what you want in the middle of a reelection campaign and a deadly pandemic outbreak.
Vice-President Mike Pence, best known for botching the response to an HIV outbreak while Governor of Indiana (causing up to 200 additional residents to be infected with the disease due to his poor handling of it) has, naturally, now been put in charge of the federal response to the #COVID19 outbreak nationally:
On Wednesday February 26, President Trump placed Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the response to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. The gesture was partly politics—signaling the disease was important enough to require the vice president’s attention—but also built on a claim about Pence’s expertise as the former governor of Indiana. As he assigned him to this task, the president praised Pence, maintaining that Indiana under his leadership was a model for the country in its approach to health.
Governor Whitmer Creates Task Forces to Combat Spread of Coronavirus
March 3, 2020
Governor creates COVID-19 task forces focused on state operations, health care, education, and the workforce
LANSING, Mich. -- Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the creation of four task forces to combat the spread of coronavirus and assess the impact it may have on Michiganders’ day-to-day lives. The task forces include:
Kreidler orders Washington health insurers to waive deductibles and copays for coronavirus testing
Contact Public Affairs: 360-725-7055
March 5, 2020
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler issued an emergency orderto Washington state health insurers requiring them to waive copays and deductibles for any consumer requiring testing for coronavirus (COVID-19).
I'm not sure how else to put this, but it's basically like if the mayor in Jaws not only refused to close the beach, but actually went on the radio and specifically told people with open wounds to go swimming and that the shark just wants to play tug-of-war with their legs.
As Vox journalist Aaron Rupar puts it:
In this clip, Trump:
1. Denies WHO's coronavirus death rate based on “hunch"
2. Calls coronavirus "corona flu" 3. Suggests it's fine for people w/ Covid-19 to go to work
4. Compares coronavirus to "the regular flu," indicating he doesn't get the difference
Osmel Martinez Azcue wanted to do the right thing, for both his own health and the health of the nation. When the Florida resident came down with flu-like symptoms shortly after returning from a trip to China, he immediately went to a local hospital to get tested for coronavirus.
A few weeks later, according to the Miami Herald, Azcue received an invoice for more than $3,000. His insurer claims he’s responsible for $1,400 of the total. He’s expecting even more bills to arrive over the next few weeks.
A 39-year-old Manhattan woman has tested positive for COVID-19, more commonly known as the novel coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said late Sunday. She is the first confirmed case in the city and in the tri-state area.
"The patient, a woman in her late thirties, contracted the virus while traveling abroad in Iran, and is currently isolated in her home," Cuomo said in making the announcement late Sunday.
The governor said that the woman is a health care worker, and that her background allowed her to take the appropriate precautions and seek testing. She flew back to New York on Tuesday but did not take mass transit home, Cuomo said Monday. As a precaution, the people on her flight and the ride-share driver are being notified about potential exposure, but Cuomo said the woman was not thought to be contagious at that time. She has respiratory symptoms but Cuomo described them as mild.
Disclosure: I publicly endorsed Joe Biden in the Democratic primary yesterday. It had nothing to do with this post, however. Shout-out to Pradheep Shanker for bringing this to my attention.
Updated w/my exchange with Rep. Khanna at the bottom
Update: I added "(nearly all)" to the headline for extra clarity given the subject of this entry.
Ro Khanna is a Democratic Congressman representing CA-17. He's also a top Bernie Sanders surrogate and a huge Medicare for All advocate.
About an hour ago, he was interviewed on NPR for about five minutes regarding the Caronavirus, tomorrow's California Presidential primary...and Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All plan.
