COVID-19 patients' care is supposed to be covered under a program President Trump announced this spring as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold, the New York Times reported. “This should alleviate any concern uninsured Americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatment,” Trump said in April about the program, which is supposed to cover testing and treatment for uninsured people with COVID-19, using money from the federal coronavirus relief package passed by Congress. The program has drawn little attention since, but a review of payments made through it, as well as interviews with hospital executives, patients and health policy researchers who have examined the payments, suggest the quickly concocted plan has not lived up to its promise. It has caused confusion at participating hospitals, which in some cases have mistakenly billed patients who should be covered by it. Few patients seem to know the program exists, so they don’t question the charges. And some hospitals and other medical providers have chosen not to participate in the program, which bars them from seeking any payment from patients whose bills they submit to it. Large numbers of patients have also been disqualified because COVID-19 has to be the primary diagnosis for a case to be covered (unless the patient is pregnant). Since hospitalized Covid patients often have other serious medical conditions, many have other primary diagnoses. At Jackson Health in Miami, for example, only 60 percent of uninsured COVID-19 patients had decisively met the requirements to have their charges covered under the program as of late July, a spokeswoman said.
