Why you need to understand the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Health Insurance Industry of the United States?
Why you need to understand the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Health Insurance Industry of the United States?
The novel strain of coronavirus called COVID-19 is having a profound impact on many facets of the health industry.
Increased Coverage of Covid-19
Companies with many cheap health insurance miami across the U.S. are broadening coverage and providing superlative access to healthcare services for their policyholders.
As an integral body of the FFCRA (Families First Coronavirus Response Act), Congress stamp out cost-sharing for COVID-19 diagnostic testing services provided under employer-sponsored health plans. In addition, many health insurance providers have waived the customer cost-sharing and co-payments for hospitalization and other costs to treat the virus. The Trump administration has ramped up its attack on the Obamacare Insurance by backing a federal judge's decision to declare the entire law unconstitutional. For now, Obamacare Plans is still standing.
Expansion of Telehealth Services
Telehealth increases provider capacity and, more importantly, increases the safety of both patients and healthcare providers by eliminating in-person appointments. Many insurers are waiving all co-payments and deductibles for telehealth services for non-COVID-19 health issues.
After repeated legal challenges, in 2012 the US Supreme Court declared obama care health insurance Plans constitutional. Although having a majority on Capitol Hill under President Trump, a Republican abrogation bid failed in melodramatic fashion in 2018. Democratic leaders have generally accepted Obamacare is not perfect, and have asserted Republicans to work with them to fix its flaws.
Telehealth has been considered as a cost-saving step by insurance companies as it has become more widely available, but mandatory telehealth for routine office visits as a result of COVID-19 will increase patients’ familiarity with this care delivery method, which may increases its acknowledgement by patients once the coronavirus health crisis has abated.
Delays in Payment of Insurance Premiums
Certain states have issued legislation allowing individuals and businesses to defer the payment of insurance premiums for a period time.
While this is beneficial to policyholders, it could negatively impact insurance companies by reducing cash inflows during a period when the insurance companies are attempting to accelerate claim payments to healthcare providers in order to help fund the battle against COVID-19.
While Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding is expected to help businesses retain employees, insurance companies are still expecting increased policy cancellations as a result of increased unemployment and the overall economic downturn. Health insurance policy cancellations will also place an additional burden on the healthcare system when the patients become uninsured.
Overall Financial Impact on the Insurance Industry
When the 2020 health insurance policies currently in place were priced, there were no premium increases in anticipation of COVID-19. It is uncertain whether delays in elective surgeries and other non-emergent treatments in addition to the savings resulting from telehealth will have a meaningful impact to offset the increased costs of COVID-19. There is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding the timeline to contain COVID-19 and the ultimate costs for the insurance industry to pay for such claims. It is also uncertain whether the government will provide relief to the insurance industry. Undoubtedly COVID-19 has the possibility of growing future health insurance premiums, but the eventual impact will be determined by the outcome of the aforementioned variables.