Many COVID-19 patients left with bills after cost-sharing waivers expiredA large proportion of US COVID-19 patients were left with thousands of dollars of hospital bills after many health insurers stopped issuing cost-sharing waivers in early 2021, finds a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.A team led by University of Michigan at Ann Arbor researchers mined the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus for Academics database for COVID-19 hospital claims for patients covered by Medicare Advantage or private insurance from Mar 1, 2020, to Mar 30, 2021.During the study period, 15,625 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized 16,450 times.
Average patient age was 67.7 years, and 51.9% were male.Among privately insured patients, 2.2% to 8.8% of COVID-19 hospitalizations involved cost sharing for facility services from March 2020 to January 2021, then rose to 82.1% to 84.4% in February and March 2021.
This proportion increased from 0.3% to 2.7% among Medicare Advantage patients from March 2020 to February 2021, then climbed to 66.1% in March 2021.Privately insured patients had 4,926 hospitalizations, 753 (15.3%) of which involved cost sharing for facility services.
Average total out-of-pocket cost was $3,998, which was positively associated with length of stay and residence in a non-Northeastern state.Medicare Advantage patients were hospitalized 11,524 times, with 406 (3.5%) involving cost sharing for facility services.