Blue Cross, Blue Shield Of RI To Stop Free Coronavirus Treatments

PROVIDENCE, RI — Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island will stop providing its insured customers free coronavirus treatments April 1, the company confirmed Thursday. Both testing and vaccines will still be fully covered, with no out-of-pocket cost.

COVID-19 treatments will still be covered by the insurance company, though members will now be responsible for cost-sharing or co-pays based on their coverage plan.

The company announced it would waive all costs associated with coronavirus treatment in April 2020, a month after a similar announcement was made in regard to coronavirus testing.

A spokesperson for Blue Cross told Patch that the plan was initially to only waive these costs "for a few months," but decided repeatedly extended the waiver to the end of 2020. When cases started to rise in November, the company decided to extend it one more time to March 31, Gail Carvelli explained.

"More recently, a year into the pandemic, with vaccines becoming more widely available, we felt it was appropriate to let the cost sharing waiver expire as had been planned," Carvelli said, adding that "many insurers never waived cost-sharing beyond what was required by federal law or state executive orders."