{"id":159145,"date":"2020-03-23T07:10:44","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T11:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=159145"},"modified":"2020-03-20T16:09:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T20:09:03","slug":"qa-coronavirus-health-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/03\/qa-coronavirus-health-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Coronavirus and Health Insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn Law Professor John A. Cogan Jr. has an extensive background in health\u00a0insurance law. Before\u00a0joining the UConn Law faculty, he served as general counsel at the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner and as Assistant Regional Counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He teaches courses on health law and health insurance. We asked him what Americans can expect from their health insurance plans as the coronavirus that causes\u00a0Covid-19 spreads.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Should people with health insurance expect it to cover the cost of a coronavirus vaccination when one becomes available?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps. The Affordable Care Act makes vaccinations\u00a0available to many Americans with no out-of-pocket spending\u2014no copays,\u00a0coinsurance, or a deductible payment for a vaccination. If a vaccine is\u00a0developed and approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease\u00a0Control and Prevention,\u00a0then most Affordable Care Act health insurance plans will be required to cover coronavirus\u00a0vaccination costs within a year of the CDC\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Adults covered by the Affordable\u00a0Care Act\u2019s Medicaid expansion would also receive\u00a0vaccination coverage without\u00a0cost to them. Children enrolled in Medicaid up to age 18 will also have coverage for vaccines through the Vaccines for Children program, which provides all CDC-approved vaccines without cost sharing.<\/p>\n

Many folks with insurance, however, will not be covered for\u00a0a coronavirus vaccination. Traditional Medicare (Parts A & B) do not cover a\u00a0coronavirus vaccination. Medicare Advantage plans might cover a coronavirus\u00a0vaccination, but it depends on the\u00a0plan. Likewise, traditional Medicaid plans\u00a0might cover a coronavirus vaccination for adults, but it depends on the state Medicaid\u00a0plan. Non-ACA health insurance plans, such as short-term\u00a0limited-duration plans, farm bureau plans, and Christian ministry plans, do not\u00a0have to cover a coronavirus vaccination.<\/p>\n

Will health insurance cover\u00a0treatment and hospitalization for the coronavirus?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public and private health plans will provide coverage for treatment\u00a0and hospitalization related to coronavirus. The two biggest issues will be cost-sharing and charges by out-of-network providers.\u00a0Most health insurance plans impose some cost-sharing (copays,\u00a0coinsurance, or deductibles) for in-network providers. Plans that impose high out-of-pocket costs, such\u00a0as a high deductible, will make coronavirus treatment very expensive for many\u00a0Americans.\u00a0(People may want to check their coverage. Most insurance companies\u00a0now provide information about their coronavirus coverage on their websites.)<\/p>\n

Patients can be charged for out-of-network costs when they receive care from a medical provider that is not in-network\u2014that is, the provider has not agreed to a set fee with the patient\u2019s insurance company. These out-of-network providers may charge the full amount for the treatment, and the insurance company may cover only some, or none, of these charges. Non-ACA plans, such as short-term limited-duration\u00a0plans, farm bureau plans, and Christian ministry plans, may have limited coverage.<\/p>\n

An estimated 9.4 percent of Americans are uninsured. Does that make the virus more dangerous here? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It could. To the extent that a lack of insurance coverage discourages or delays necessary treatment, uncovered Americans could face worse health outcomes than if they had coverage. Moreover, as uninsured patients seek treatment, hospitals and community health centers will face increasing financial pressures. As the virus spreads and intensifies, the federal government will have to cover these costs to avert the closure of struggling hospitals and health centers.
\n
\nAre other countries with different health insurance\u00a0systems better equipped to address this pandemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

From a coverage standpoint, yes. By linking health insurance\u00a0to employment, our system makes it harder to maintain coverage. Our coverage is\u00a0also more expensive and often includes high deductibles that make medical care\u00a0very costly.<\/p>\n

What lessons do you expect the U.S. to learn from this\u00a0pandemic? Do you expect this crisis to shift public opinion about our health care\u00a0system? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Hard to say. Many Americans now favor more extensive, government-based\u00a0health insurance coverage, such as Medicare-for-All. But these views are not universal;\u00a0many Americans still oppose a government health insurance plan or a broad expansion\u00a0of coverage. Given the uncertainty of the coronavirus, it is hard to predict how\u00a0American public opinion will shift over the next few months.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn Law’s John A. Cogan Jr. explains what people should expect from their health insurance as the coronavirus pandemic evolves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":159146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2213,2231,1857,92,2225,2227],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2158],"class_list":["post-159145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-health-well-being","category-law","category-uconn-hartford","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-edu-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-26 21:28:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159145"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159148,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159145\/revisions\/159148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/159146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159145"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=159145"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=159145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}