A federal program aimed at ensuring uninsured Americans won't have to pay large medical bills for COVID-19 treatment could be falling short on some of its promises.
In April, the Trump administration said it would use money earmarked for hospitals in a $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package to cover COVID-19 treatment for uninsured patients. At the time, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said under the measure, providers aren't supposed to bill uninsured Americans for the cost of COVID-19 care, and providers would be reimbursed at Medicare rates for treating uninsured COVID-19 patients.
In some cases, the program has covered bills that would be unaffordable for COVID-19 patients. Across the nation's 50 states, providers have been reimbursed $851 million from the fund, according to The New York Times, with $267 million going toward COVID-19 testing and $584 million for treatment. However, the Kaiser Family Foundation predicted in April that hospital costs for uninsured COVID-19 patients could total much more: between $13.9 billion and $41.8 billion.
The Times reviewed the program's payments and interviewed hospital executives, patients and health policy researchers about the program. The publication found the program has caused confusion at hospitals and has led to many uninsured COVID-19 patients being billed for services that were supposed to be covered.
Additionally, the Times found that few uninsured patients know about the program and aren't questioning medical bills they receive. Plus, many COVID-19 patients who've been hospitalized haven't qualified for the program because their primary diagnosis was another serious medical condition.
Molly Smith, the American Hospital Association's vice president for coverage and state issues forum, told the Times that medical claims for COVID-19 treatment "have just been so much smaller than anyone would have expected. One thing we've heard a fair amount of is just serious backlogs and delays. But probably a lot of claims aren't getting into the system at all because our members have determined they don't qualify."
Read the full report here.