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Medicare Update on COVID




Medicare will cover the lab tests for COVID-19 and you will pay no out-of-pocket costs. Medicare will also cover all medically necessary hospitalizations. This will include, if you're diagnosed with COVID-19 and might otherwise have been discharged from the hospital after an inpatient stay, but instead, you need to stay in the hospital under quarantine. 

 If a vaccine for COVID becomes available, it will be covered by all Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Part D). If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan, you have access to these Medicare covers related needs. Medicare will also allow these plans to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 lab tests.

Medicare is also responsible for developing and enforcing the essential health and safety requirements that health care providers must meet on a daily basis in response to coronavirus. This includes;

  • Taking aggressive actions and exercising regulatory flexibilities to help healthcare providers and Medicare health plans.
  • To address the urgent need to increase capacity to care for patients, hospitals can now provide hospital services in other healthcare facilities and sites that aren’t currently considered part of a healthcare facility. This includes off-site screenings.
  • Waiving certain requirements for skilled nursing facility care.
  • Establishing new codes to allow providers to correctly bill for services related to diagnosis and treatment of the illness.
  • Instructing our national network of State Survey Agencies and Accrediting Organizations to focus all their efforts on infection prevention and other cases of abuse and neglect in nursing homes and hospitals.
  • Instructing nursing homes and hospitals to review their infection control procedures, which they're required to maintain at all times.
  • Issuing important guidance answering questions that nursing homes may have with respect for addressing cases of COVID-19.

Telehealth & related services

Medicare has temporarily expanded its coverage of telehealth
services to respond to the current Public Health Emergency. These services expand the current telehealth covered services, to help you have access from more places, with a wider range of communication tools, including smartphones, to interact with a range of providers, such as doctors, nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, and licensed clinical social worker. You will be able to receive a specific set of services through telehealth including evaluation and management visits, mental health counseling and preventive health screenings without a copayment if you have Original Medicare. This will help ensure you are able to visit with your doctor from your home, without having to go to a doctor’s office or hospital, which puts you and others at risk of exposure to COVID-19.








Always remember:
Scammers may use the coronavirus national emergency to take advantage of people while they’re distracted. As always, you must guard your Medicare card like a credit card. From time to time check Medicare claims summary forms for errors, and if someone calls asking for your Medicare Number, immediately HUNG UP!



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NCOV -19 and MEDICARE 2020

Medicare Part B , which includes a variety of outpatient services cover medically necessary clinical diagnostic laboratory tests when a doctor or other practitioner orders them. Medically necessary clinical diagnostic laboratory tests are generally not subject to coinsurance or deductible. It will cover medically necessary imaging tests, such as computed tomography (CT) scans, as needed for treatment purposes for lung infections, however not for screening asymptomatic patients. For those imaging tests paid by Part B, beneficiary coinsurance and deductible would apply. If the Part B deductible ($198 in 2020) applies to the Part B services, beneficiaries must pay all costs - up to the approved amount of Medicare until the beneficiary meets the yearly Part B deductible. Once it is met, Medicare pays its share, and beneficiaries typically pay 20% of the approved amount of the service, except laboratory tests. There’s no yearly limit for what a beneficiary pays out-of-pocket tho
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Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction

Cardiovascular disease generally refers to conditions that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Cardiovascular disease risk reduction visits can help detect and prevent this disease. How to know if I am Eligible? Medicare   Part B  covers an annual cardiovascular disease risk reduction visit with your primary care  provider . You do not need to show any signs or symptoms of cardiovascular disease to qualify for screening, but you must be considered competent and alert when counseling is provided.  During the screening, your provider may; Encourage aspirin use if the benefits outweigh the risks You are a man  of age 45-79 Or a woman of age 55-79 Screen for high blood pressure if you are age 18+ Provide behavioral counseling and tips to encourage a healthy diet Note: Men under 45 and women under 55 are not encouraged to use aspirin as a tool to reduce cardiovascular disease. How much will it cost? If you are eligible,  Original Medicare  will cover your cardiovascular disease risk red
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Lifetime Reserve Days

There are  90 days of  inpatient  hospital care coverage on Original Medicare for each  benefit period , In addition, you also have an additional 60 days of coverag e , called LIFETIME RESERVE DAYS .   These Lifetime Reserved Days  can be used only ONCE, and you will pay a  coinsurance  for each of it. To have a better understanding of it, let’s imagine an individual who had a 120-day  Medicare -covered inpatient stay, this means that they used 30 lifetime reserve days. After they have been out of the hospital for 60 days in a row, they will be eligible for another 90 days of hospital coverage because they will be in a new  benefit period . However, if they need  inpatient care  beyond the benefit period maximum, they will only have 30 of their 60 lifetime reserve days remaining. The above example illustrates that lifetime reserve days do not have to be applied to the same hospital stay. If you need to stay in the hospital twice for 120 days each time during different benefit
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