Health plans phasing out cost-sharing waivers for COVID treatment

Although a handful of states required or created agreements with insurers to waive COVID-19 out-of-pocket treatment costs for their fully insured plan enrollees, there is no federal mandate requiring insurers to do so. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Nearly three-fourths of the nation’s largest health plans no longer waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment, the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker reported.

Federal law requires all private insurance plans to cover the entire cost associated with approved COVID-19 testing as long as the test is deemed medically appropriate. Additionally, the U.S. government prepaid for COVID-19 vaccines and required them to be made available at no out-of-pocket expense, regardless of whether the vaccine recipient is insured. However, although a handful of states required or created agreements with insurers to waive COVID-19 out-of-pocket treatment costs for their fully insured plan enrollees, there is no federal mandate requiring insurers to do so.