Futurity October 21, 2021
People in the United States who get seriously ill from COVID-19 in 2021 might have to pay thousands of dollars in bills from their hospitals, doctors, and ambulance companies, a new study suggests.
The new analysis in JAMA Network Open has implications for both policymakers and people who haven’t yet gotten vaccinated, as well as people with underlying conditions that put them at risk of a severe breakthrough case of COVID-19.
Most health insurance companies voluntarily waived co-pays, deductibles, and other cost-sharing for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 2020, but many major insurers lifted those waivers in early 2021. Tens of thousands of Americans have gotten severely ill and received hospital or emergency care in the surge of cases that has...