(Credit: U.C. Davis; NIH)
The new federal COVID-19 testing benefits mandate does apply to major medical insurance policies, including employers' self-insured health plans, and "grandfathered" health insurance policies.
The mandate does not apply to short-term health insurance.
Officials at three departments — the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — gave given that interpretation in a new set of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the mandate.
Resources
- The new batches of CMS guidance are available here.
- An article about what states have been doing about COVID-19 testing benefits is available here.
The so-called "tri agency team" developed the guidance to interpret the health insurance sections of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
Section 6001 of the FFCRA requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19 pneumonia and heart damage, without imposing deductibles, co-payment requirements, or other cost-sharing requirements or prior authorization requirements on the patients.
Outside the Section 6001 Fence
Jeff Smedsrud, the founder of Pivot Health, a company that sells short-term health insurance, said recently in an interview with ThinkAdvisor that many short-term health insurance issuers are providing coverage for COVID-19 testing.
But tri-agency officials say in the new guidance that the Section 6001 COVID-19 testing benefits mandate has no effect on "excepted benefits," or health insurance products that are excepted from the federal requirements that apply to major medical insurance.
The list of excepted benefits includes products such as dental insurance, disability insurance, hospital indemnity insurance, and short-term health insurance.
