Health Care Hacks: COVID-19 & Insurance Coverage

My grandmother always used to say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's so true today especially given the COVID situation. (MUSIC) Hi my name is Jon, I'm your health care hacker. Today I want to talk to you about a topic that's close to all of us: COVID and what's covered by insurance and what's not. If you can get a test, almost every insurance has said that it's covered and there'll be no out-of-pocket expense. There's a couple caveats to this. First, if you work for a large employer, typically any company over about 300 people or so, they're often self-insured, and what this means is they tell the insurance company what to cover and what not to cover. So if you work for one of these organizations, you want to talk to your HR department and ask them, or they might have told you on their website. So do a little investigation, find out if testing's covered. The other type of insurance which may not be covered is short-term medical. If you have a short term medical plan, again do the research, don't assume. It doesn't

necessarily mean it's all covered. Most times it will be, but every insurance companies a little bit different. As for treatment and wi'll treatment have an out-of-pocket expense, many insurers you've seen in the news Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, have said if you do get COVID or someone your family gets COVID, you won't have to pay anything out of pocket, which is great. You won't have to pay your deductible, co-insurance, co-pay. However, that's typically only for fully insured employers. If you buy it through the exchange or you work for a small employer. If you work for a large employer, you're going to have to look and see, specifically call your insurance company to see if it's that applies to you or not. Some places do, some places don't. If you have Medicaid, Medicaid will cover the testing with no out-of-pocket however, treatment, you're still going to pay your deductible and your copay so just be prepared. Finally, telehealth is a big topic right now given that we're all stuck at home like me. Again, a lot of insurance companies are covering telehealth fully so you don't have to pay anything for it,

whether it's COVID related or not, some of it 's just being covered fully, but there's no standard and that's the challenge. It's one of the challenges our healthcare system. Every insurance company, every plan is a little bit different. So my advice to you: spend a little bit of time doing a little research on your own for you and your family. It won't take much. Figure out is testing covered for me and my family, do I have to, if I do get COVID, will I have to pay anything out of pocket and if so how much. Know where you are in your benefit year, know how much you already paid out-of-packet and what your exposure is. Financial times are tough right now so you want to understand what you can potentially have to pay. Finally, realize if you get sick, have a plan where you're gonna go. You want to make sure you go to an in-network facility if at all possible, so know what that facility is around you, so that if you have to get that impatient treatment you can go, because COVID treatment is extremely expensive and a last thing you want to do is have a large financial burden for you and your family on top of the health burden. So take a couple

minutes, do the research, and try to figure out what the best options are for you, we're all in this together, it's complex, but with a little bit of time you can limit your financial risk.