Out-of-pocket costs $1,500 to $3,800
A team led by University of Michigan researchers analyzed data on 4,075 COVID-19 hospitalizations of Americans with private or Medicare Advantage insurance from March to September 2020. The study used the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus for Academics Database, which collects claims data from multiple US insurers.
Among all patients, 33.8% were privately insured, 46.5% required intensive care unit (ICU) stays, and the average length of stay was 7.3 days (9.2 for ICU patients).
The investigators found that the vast majority of COVID-19 patients weren’t billed for hospital services such as room and board, suggesting that their insurance companies footed the bill. But patients who were responsible for payment were out thousands of dollars.
That means that COVID-19 patients who have sought emergency or hospital care since that time could face out-of-pocket costs of roughly $3,800 (for those with private insurance), while those with Medicare Advantage plans could pay $1,500, the researchers said. Total out-of-pocket costs were higher than $4,000 for 2.5% of privately insured patients, compared with 0.2% of Medicare patients.
The out-of-pocket costs are just a small fraction of total hospital charges, however. The authors said that insurers cap hospitalization costs of COVID-19 patients with private insurance at, on average, $42,200, while the cap is $21,400 for those using Medicare.
Source: Hospital COVID patients may owe thousands as insurance waivers end | CIDRAP
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