11 votes

California directs some health insurers to waive co-pays, deductibles for coronavirus tests

11 comments

  1. bleem
    Link
    medicare for all, would be something the mental health community absolutely needs. I re uploaded my pic of the most expensive medicines i'm on just to show you that i would literally be dead...

    medicare for all, would be something the mental health community absolutely needs. I re uploaded my pic of the most expensive medicines i'm on just to show you that i would literally be dead without medicaid.

    https://i.imgur.com/uGDNbQW.png

    6 votes
  2. [10]
    skybrian
    Link
    From the article: [...] [...]

    From the article:

    Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration and California’s top insurance official issued orders Thursday making coronavirus tests free for about 24 million Californians if doctors decide they are medically necessary, according to a news release.

    The departments of Insurance and Managed Health Care directed commercial and Medi-Cal plans to waive co-pays and deductibles for medically necessary tests for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus spreading through the state.

    California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday also directed insurers regulated by his office to waive testing fees.

    [...]

    The directives do not apply to people who work at large companies and get their insurance through work under “self-insured” health plans, according to a news release from the department.

    [...]

    The orders also make clear that insurers can’t send “surprise,” or “balance” bills to patients related to coronavirus treatment. Insurers sometimes send the surprise bills to patients who get treatment from a doctor who isn’t in the insurance plan’s network.

    1 vote
    1. [9]
      vakieh
      Link Parent
      My prediction based on what I have observed of the US's legal, medical, and insurance systems as a foreigner who visits the US: The insurers will ask the government to fund this coverage and cry...

      My prediction based on what I have observed of the US's legal, medical, and insurance systems as a foreigner who visits the US:

      • The insurers will ask the government to fund this coverage and cry liquidity panic over the 'unprecedented' amount of claims and 'severe burden on the industry' that will harm voters/consumers
      • The government will agree and will hand the insurers money
      • The insurers will then sit on these details for a period of time
      • The insurers will send the surprise bills to patients anyway once they feel an appropriate amount of limelight on the issue has been lost
      • Individuals who are capable of paying will cough up in the short term to avoid their credit ratings being thrashed. Individuals who cannot will not, and will of course have their credit ratings thrashed
      • People will complain, and the insurers will say "We are terribly sorry it was a mistake in our processes/computer system/judgement of Scapegoat A/B/or C
      • The government will step in like a hero and fine the insurers x amount of dollars to much media rejoicing over how good they are.
      • The insurers will cry hurt and say this will lead to an 'unprecedented' impact on their business and will hurt voters/consumers
      • The final fine will be a fraction of x, say x/100 (which will not be reported anywhere near as widely as the original fine of x).
      • However the profit from the individuals paying up in the first place was already 10x
      6 votes
      1. timo
        Link Parent
        I hate how completely plausible this is. Well done.

        I hate how completely plausible this is. Well done.

        1 vote
      2. [7]
        teaearlgraycold
        Link Parent
        How can anyone working in that industry not hate themselves?

        How can anyone working in that industry not hate themselves?

        1. skybrian
          Link Parent
          Because they're doing something essential? People would die or go broke, maybe both, without health insurance paying the bills. The thing about working in a bad system is that it's easy to justify...

          Because they're doing something essential? People would die or go broke, maybe both, without health insurance paying the bills.

          The thing about working in a bad system is that it's easy to justify as fixing whatever problems you can to keep it from getting worse. They can probably point to specific people they helped.

          3 votes
        2. [5]
          AugustusFerdinand
          Link Parent
          Because the people that make the decisions that Vakieh stated aren't made by the millions of people in the industry, but by the couple of hundred at the top and the millions near the bottom are...

          Because the people that make the decisions that Vakieh stated aren't made by the millions of people in the industry, but by the couple of hundred at the top and the millions near the bottom are just normal people that have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and lives to live outside of the 40 hours in an office?

          2 votes
          1. [4]
            teaearlgraycold
            Link Parent
            I guess I'd wrongly assumed that most people working in healthcare are skilled workers with job mobility.

            I guess I'd wrongly assumed that most people working in healthcare are skilled workers with job mobility.

            1. [2]
              Gaywallet
              Link Parent
              healthcare and health insurance are two wildly different fields

              healthcare and health insurance are two wildly different fields

              4 votes
              1. AugustusFerdinand
                Link Parent
                To add: Yes, some in health insurance are skilled workers that have job mobility, but that's not merely enough for them to abandon what they do because people at the top are assholes that are...

                To add: Yes, some in health insurance are skilled workers that have job mobility, but that's not merely enough for them to abandon what they do because people at the top are assholes that are required by their shareholders to maximize profit. Nothing is accomplished to stop the for profit healthcare insurance industry by low to mid level employees leaving for another industry. Everyone is replaceable and you can find someone just as skilled without the moral compass to take your place.

                3 votes
            2. babypuncher
              Link Parent
              Not all skilled workers have easy job mobility.

              Not all skilled workers have easy job mobility.

              3 votes