Diagnosing people who have coronavirus is an important step as our state and the rest of the world look to contain the spread of the disease. That is why Governor Tom Wolf worked with major health insurers operating in the state on waiving any cost-sharing for coronavirus testing.
Under the terms of this agreement, those who have comprehensive health care coverage will not need to worry about deductibles, co-pays or other fees when a coronavirus test is ordered by a patient’s treating doctor. Residents on Medicare or Medicaid will also not have any fees for testing.
Wolf released a statement about the agreement, saying this helps our state to identify those infected with the virus and gives officials a better chance to help protect everyone in the state.
These are the health insurance companies that signed onto the agreement:
- Highmark
- UPMC Health Plan
- Geisinger
- Independence BlueCross
- Capital Blue Cross
- Aetna
- Cigna
- United Healthcare
- Pennsylvania Health & Wellness
- Oscar
This announcement comes as commercial labs begin to have coronavirus testing capabilities.
Up to this point, any testing done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been paid for with public money.
As of Monday, 10 Pennsylvanians had registered positive for the virus, and every one of them was infected while traveling outside the state or country.
State Health Secretary Rachel Levine said there were no plans of canceling events, however, anyone who is feeling sick should not attend any events or be around large gatherings of people.
For more information on the coronavirus, visit the CDC website. There is also a page about how you can help protect yourself, your family and your community from this disease.