During the national public health emergency period, FDA-authorized COVID-19 tests, when ordered by a physician or health care professional for purposes of diagnosis, are mandated to be covered by your health insurance provider, based on your plan’s benefits. If anyone ever receives a bill for getting a test done, reach out to your Business Benefits team regarding our Patient Advocacy services to research the claim.
It is also important to note that there is a difference between a COVID-19 test and an anti-body test. A COVID-19 test is administered with the intent of finding out if someone currently has COVID-19. An antibody test is administered many days after someone thinks that they may have had or been exposed to COVID-19 and is not used for diagnostic purposes. It is important for you and your employees to understand that these two tests are different and are covered differently. The anti-body test is not required to be covered in full and the way they are covered varies from carrier to carrier. It is also possible that the anti-body test is not covered under some medical plans. We believe this is due to varying opinions amongst the carriers on the effectiveness and usefulness of the anti-body test.
If you are in need of more specific information about how your health insurance carrier is covering COVID-19 related claims, give us a call.