Last night (March 11^th) President Trump announced that he had convinced health insurance providers to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments. Later, the White House clarified that copayments would still apply to treatment of the disease, as the waiver only applies to testing.

This is woefully inadequate.

Before attempting to stimulate the economy, Congress should pass immediate legislation and appropriations to remove ALL disincentives for individuals presently in the United States to seek diagnosis, testing and treatment for the COVID-19 coronavirus. President Trump should immediately sign such a bill into law.

Let’s examine disincentives in two broad categories – financial and non-financial.

Financial Disincentives

No patient should be required to pay any out-of-pocket amount when seeking medical attention in connection with the coronavirus. No copayments. No deductibles. Whether insured or not, the risk of community spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus is too great for anyone to face a financial disincentive to seek proper medical care.

Further, the financial consequences should be removed from insurance companies. The impact of coronavirus-related claims should not become part of any insurance company’s justification for future premium increases. Instead, insurance companies should be reimbursed for any coronavirus claims already paid.

Congress should direct Medicare to establish separate billing codes for coronavirus diagnosis, testing and treatment. Virtually all healthcare providers have existing billing arrangements with Medicare. All such services – regardless of the patient’s age – should be billed directly to Medicare. This isn’t “Medicare for All” as much as it is “Medicare for a National Healthcare Emergency.”

A special Medicare appropriation should be made, and later augmented if necessary. This will be expensive. And worth it.

Non-Financial Disincentives

There are numerous non-financial reasons that certain individuals may avoid seeking medical care. Any and all barriers much be removed.

Healthcare providers should be required to mask patient identity information upon request by a patient or if they have any reason to believe a patient fears negative consequences associated with presenting themselves for diagnosis, testing or treatment.

Non-citizens of the U.S. must be protected against detention or deportation.

Individuals with outstanding arrest warrants must be protected against detention or prosecution.

Individuals with existing probation or parole violations must be protected against incarceration or loss of probation or parole status, or related fines.

Persons who are behind on child support payments or tax filings and payments or bill payments must be protected from the claws of collection and enforcement mechanisms.

Workers must be protected against job loss. Protections at least equal to those of the Family and Medical Leave Act and/or Americans with Disabilities Act – further expanded to remove exemptions for smaller businesses – should be included in the legislation.

Gang members must not fear any form of crackdown. (Nobody said this was going to be easy.)

Anyone (meaning: ANYONE) who may be exposed to the COVID-19 coronavirus must be rewarded for coming out of the shadows for diagnosis, testing and treatment… not punished. The mortality rate of this disease and exponential rate of community spread is too high to allow any disincentives to cause people to remain in the shadows. Lack of testing and treatment exposes all of us. None of us are safe if any of us are fearful of seeking care.

Strong anti-retaliation provisions must be included, with steep penalties for any violations, whether by law enforcement, government agencies, healthcare providers or employers.

A lot of taxpayer money will be involved. Any such law must have strong anti-fraud provisions, enforcement mechanisms and severe penalties for violators.

Best practice whistleblower provisions must be included as well.

This is a national (and global) emergency. Let’s treat it like one.