By Kao-Ping Chua, Rena M. Conti on Friday, 17 April 2020
Category: News

Health Affairs: Despite The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, COVID-19 Evaluation Is Not Necessarily Free

HCCI's 2018 Annual Report was cited in a Health Affairs article on coverage of COVID-19 testing. 

From the article: 

"Consider cost sharing for a privately insured patient under seven possible evaluation scenarios, shown in exhibit 1. First, if the patient is evaluated in person but does not receive any testing, cost sharing could be imposed for the visit. According to an analysis of national commercial claims data by the Health Care Cost Institute, privately insured patients paid an average of $37 out of pocket for an office visit in 2018, compared with $74 for an emergency department visit. Notably, both of these amounts account only for professional fees; cost sharing may be even higher if facility fees are charged."