NY | New York has issued an amendment to Regulation 62 (11 NYCRR 52) prohibiting health care plans that provide hospital, surgical, or medical expense insurance policies or contracts from imposing, and provides that no insured shall be required to pay, copayments, coinsurance, or annual deductibles for covered in-network laboratory tests to diagnose COVID-19 and for visits to diagnose COVID-19 at the following locations, including through telehealth: an in-network provider’s office, an in-network urgent care center, any other in-network outpatient provider setting able to diagnose COVID-19, or an emergency department of a hospital.
Copayments, coinsurance, or annual deductibles may be imposed in accordance with the applicable policy or contract for any follow-up care or treatment for COVID19, including an inpatient hospital admission, as otherwise permitted by law. The amendment requires every health care plan to provide written notification of the requirements of the amendment to its in-network providers in order to ensure that the providers do not require any insured to pay a copayment, coinsurance, or annual deductible that is prohibited from being imposed under the amendment.
This notification should ensure that providers do not collect a copayment, coinsurance, or annual deductible at any time, including when the services are provided, which is typically when such payment is collected.