CARES Act Provider Relief Fund: For Patients

If you have insurance

Private insurers generally must waive an insurance plan member's cost-sharing payments for COVID-19 diagnostic testing and certain related items and services.

Some private insurers, including Humana, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield system, have agreed to waive cost-sharing payments for COVID-19 treatment for insured patients.

If a patient has insurance and seeks COVID-19 treatment from an out-of-network provider that has received General or Targeted Distributions from the Provider Relief Fund, the provider has agreed not to seek to collect out-of-pocket payments greater than what the patient would have otherwise been required to pay if the care had been provided by an in-network provider.

If you do not have insurance

If you are uninsured and receive COVID-19-related testing and/or treatment services, your provider may have submitted a claim to the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) for reimbursement of these services. Providers who participate in and are reimbursed from the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program are not allowed to "balance bill" individuals who do not have health care coverage (uninsured).

If you receive a bill in which a portion of that bill is paid for by HRSA, you may not be responsible for the remainder of the bill if the rendered service was for COVID-19 testing and/or treatment.

If you received a bill and were charged for COVID-19 testing and/or treatment services and the bill shows HRSA reimbursement for those services, please contact your health care provider to discuss how best to resolve payment of your bill. (If your provider has questions they can visit the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program site.)

Please note that if your provider didn't submit a bill for your COVID-19-related testing and/or treatment to the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program or the care was not eligible for reimbursement from the program, you may be responsible for full payment of the bill.