Highmark waives member out-of-pocket expenses for coronavirus testing

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is waiving all out of pocket expenses for coronavirus testing as two commercial diagnostic laboratories with extensive networks in Western Pennsylvania roll out tests for the virus that causes COVID-19.
Highmark is waiving co-pays and deductibles for its fully insured, Medicare Advantage and Affordable Care Act plan members. Employers with self-insured plans, which comprises more than half of Highmark’s insured population, will be able to opt out of the waiver.
Neither UPMC nor UPMC Health Plan officials were available Friday. UPMC officials said Tuesday they were developing their own coronavirus test.
No cases of COVID-19 have yet been confirmed in Highmark’s primary service area of Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia as testing for the new coronavirus begins in Pittsburgh and across the country by Monday.

Burlington, N.C.-based LabCorp said its test for the new coronavirus would be available starting late Thursday. The test will detect the presence of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.
“We have been intensely focused on making testing for COVID-19 available as soon as possible, working with the government and others to address this public health crisis,” LabCorp President and CEO Adam H. Schechter said in a prepared statement.
Also Thursday, Secaucus, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics Inc. said it would roll out a nationwide test for the new coronavirus starting Monday. LabCorp and Quest both have extensive operations in Western Pennsylvania, but neither company will collect specimens for testing, which is usually done with swabs in the back of the nose and throat.
Instead, specimens will be collected by the patient’s physician and forwarded to labs for analysis.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have also been doing testing for the coronavirus, but the entry of commercial labs into the market is expected to ramp up the number of tests that can be performed while cutting turnaround time.
LabCorp says its results will be available in three to four days. Quest officials were unavailable Friday.
Health insurer Cigna Corp. announced Thursday that it was waiving all out of pocket expenses for coronavirus testing for its fully insured plan members. Most employers are self-insured so they dictate the terms of their coverage.

Other major insurers cover the tests. Highmark covers both the LabCorp and Quest tests; UPMC Health Plan only covers ones done by Quest.
Quest has had a joint venture with UPMC for lab services in the greater Pittsburgh area for 22 years. UPMC controls 49% of the venture, Quest 51%.
A doctor’s order is needed before testing.
California, New York and Washington states have ordered insurers to waive all co-pays and deductibles for the test and Pennsylvania has been weighing a similar move in recent days, according to one person who was familiar with the deliberations. State Insurance Department officials were unavailable early Friday.
Other laboratories may also soon begin testing. BioReference Laboratories Inc. said it would begin testing for coronavirus the week of March 9, but the Elmwood Park, N.J.-based company does not have labs in Pennsylvania.
On Saturday, the Food & Drug Administration gave approval for 300 to 400 academic medical center laboratories nationwide to develop their own tests to identify the new coronavirus. At a news conference Tuesday, UPMC said it was working to develop its own test, but officials were not available Thursday after announcements by the two private labs.
The new coronavirus, which spreads through contact with tiny droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze, was first identified in the Chinese province of Hubei in December. At least 205 cases have been reported in 17 states, most in California and Washington state.
Two individuals from Wayne and Delaware counties are presumed to have tested positive for COVID-19, Gov. Tom Wolf announced at a news conference Friday. Like the two Pittsburgh men who are self-quarantined in their homes after possible exposure to the virus on a cruise ship, the Wayne and Delaware individuals were both staying at home, separated from others.
Quarantines for medical reasons are voluntary, Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine said at the news conference, which has not raised any compliance issues so far.
“The quarantine is not really an issue,” she said. “People really want to cooperate. Everybody wants to maintain their health.”
Raymond E. Pontzer, a physician and chief of the infectious disease section at UPMC St. Margaret Hospital in Aspinwall, said he suspects there are already cases of COVID-19 in the Pittsburgh area, which testing will detect.
Treatment for COVID-19 is limited to supportive measures, such as drinking lots of fluids and taking over the counter medications for pain and fever.
“There is no specific antiviral or antibacterial medication that’s proven effective,” Dr. Pontzer said.
https://www.post-gazette.com/business/healthcare-business/2020/03/05/COVID-19-testing-upmc-highmark-coronavirus-quest-diagnostics-labcorp-pittsburgh-insurance/stories/202003050185