Question

The COVID-19 pandemic has been threatening our life and hurting the economy.
Do you think the governmental medical insurance programs (e.g. Medicare and Medicaid) should fully cover the testing cost to encourage the voluntary testing for all senior and low-income people?

If so, how about the total treatment costs after positively tested?
Please provide suggestions and state your answer from the perspective of public health.

Answer 1

COVID-19 disease has worsened the normal health status of all sets of people in the world. The pandemic situation has shattered the sound economic situation of the Government's operations of public governance and hindering the normal operations of the society. It distracted the entire structural development in both developed and developing nations. The US people also witnessing the health issue of COVID-19 critical situations. As the federal government has closed all the corporate companies, schools, malls, public places and implanted the curfew across all regions of counties of all the states, many people have lost their job and all business people also lost their business profits. It leads to many cancellations of the insurance system temporarily and becomes inactive unless the pandemic situation to become better and to restore the normal level. In such a situation, The Medical Insurance programs of Medicare and Medicaid cover the test cost to encourage voluntary testing for all senior and low-income people. It is the right decision plan of the US federal government to control and regularise the insurance payments towards medical billing and treatment. Let us discuss the suggestions to safeguard public health by subsidizing the total treatment of costs and making affordable for all the affected people.

Nearly 41% of the people who have insurance have lost their jobs suddenly because of this pandemic crisis. So the US Department of health and human services (HHS) has waived the internal billing cost of all treatment costs, insured by all the people during the COVID-19 testing and treatment process. Normal non-insuring costs and the burden of including additional copayment cost and non-includable items in the insurance scheme have entirely nullified. The HHS also implemented the scheme of FFCRA - The Families First Coronavirus Response Act assisted the patients to overcome the burden of all the above mentioned cost-sharing issues.

We can list out the following ways to reduce the burden of huge treatment costs towards the COVID-19 treatment procedure. 1) The US Department of Labor and the HHS can jointly tie-up to render service for the economically affected employees to cover the total expenses of the treatment. 2) They should conduct period research to collect the statistical data of the COVID-19 affected people and take the necessary steps to give grants and subsidies to all owners of all the firms and the private firms. 3) Such granted subsidies will save the salary funds for all the employees, which can bear their family expenses. 4) Both the Federal government and the local municipalities of all the counties should share the treatment expenses covering under the insurance scheme accordingly with their own fund-sharing status. 5) Local bodies can take necessary action plans to reduce the percentage slab of income taxes paid by all shop owners and all the earning people, so that they can save the amount for any emergency purposes.