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  • Legality of Requesting Insurance Info for Covid shots

    From Rick@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 6 11:37:20 2021
    Is this legal?

    Some companies administering Covid shots are requesting health insurance
    info from patients. This is in spite of the fact that the shots are
    supposed to be free and totally paid for by the government. Apparently,
    the shots are still administered if a patient says they don't have insurance
    or simply refuses to provide the information, but many people feel pressured into providing the information or assume wrongly that providing the
    information is mandatory.

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  • From Roy@21:1/5 to Rick on Thu May 6 11:40:57 2021
    On 5/6/2021 11:37 AM, Rick wrote:
    Is this legal?

    Some companies administering Covid shots are requesting health insurance
    info from patients.  This is in spite of the fact that the shots are supposed to be free and totally paid for by the government.
    Apparently, the shots are still administered if a patient says they
    don't have insurance or simply refuses to provide the information, but
    many people feel pressured into providing the information or assume
    wrongly that providing the information is mandatory.

    See

    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html

    COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot:

    Charge you for the vaccine
    Charge you directly for any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance
    Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance
    coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network
    Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only
    service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination
    Require additional services in order for a person to receive a
    COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be
    provided at the same time and billed as appropriate

    COVID-19 vaccination providers can:

    Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or program (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee
    However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the
    balance of the bill
    Seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program

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  • From Mike Anderson@21:1/5 to Roy on Thu May 6 13:37:10 2021
    On 5/6/2021 2:40 PM, Roy wrote:
    On 5/6/2021 11:37 AM, Rick wrote:
    Is this legal?

    Some companies administering Covid shots are requesting health
    insurance info from patients.  This is in spite of the fact that the
    shots are supposed to be free and totally paid for by the government.
    Apparently, the shots are still administered if a patient says they
    don't have insurance or simply refuses to provide the information, but
    many people feel pressured into providing the information or assume
    wrongly that providing the information is mandatory.

    See

    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html

    COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot:

       Charge you for the vaccine
       Charge you directly for any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance
       Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance
    coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network
       Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination
       Require additional services in order for a person to receive a
    COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be
    provided at the same time and billed as appropriate

    COVID-19 vaccination providers can:

       Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or program (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee
           However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the balance of the bill
       Seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program


    I.e. it seems to me that they can ASK for the info so they can try to
    get reimbursed from your insurance, which MAY wind up as a larger
    payment to them as opposed to what the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program may pay them.

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  • From John Levine@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 6 13:36:39 2021
    According to Rick <rick@nospam.com>:
    Is this legal?

    Some companies administering Covid shots are requesting health insurance
    info from patients. This is in spite of the fact that the shots are
    supposed to be free and totally paid for by the government. ...

    The vaccination is free to the recipient, but that doesn't mean it
    is totally paid for by the government. If you have insurance, the
    insurance pays for it with no copay from you. If you have no insurance
    the government pays.

    My insurance paid $16 for the first shot, $26.33 for the second. I paid $0.
    --
    Regards,
    John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
    Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

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  • From Barry Gold@21:1/5 to Rick on Thu May 6 13:37:38 2021
    On 5/6/2021 11:37 AM, Rick wrote:
    Is this legal?

    Some companies administering Covid shots are requesting health insurance
    info from patients.  This is in spite of the fact that the shots are supposed to be free and totally paid for by the government.
    Apparently, the shots are still administered if a patient says they
    don't have insurance or simply refuses to provide the information, but
    many people feel pressured into providing the information or assume
    wrongly that providing the information is mandatory.

    Generally speaking, you can request whatever you want.(*) As long as you
    don't require it as a condition of providing the service.

    (*) some questions could be problematic. For example, if you ask
    somebody's religion, the government might reasonably investigate to see
    if you are discriminating on the basis of religion. But there might be a reason, e.g., a mortuary might ask so they can arrange for burial in the appropriate cemetary. Or a Christian hospital might ask so they can
    provide non-Christians with a room without Christian symbols.

    (I spent three days in a Catholic hospital because it was the nearest ER
    to my home. I had my wife take something over the crucifix on the wall
    of my room so I wouldn't have to look at it.)

    --
    I do so have a memory. It's backed up on DVD... somewhere...

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