Preparing for Coronavirus: Who's Paying for All This?
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Who explains which coronavirus expenses consumers might pay for?
Here's your Money Briefing. I'm J.R. Whalen at The Wall Street Journal in New York. The spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. has sent people racing to be tested, forced them to work from home, and stock up on cleaning supplies. It raises the question, who's paying for all this?
A lot of people have been talking about how things like hand sanitizer, face masks, these are protective pieces that people are running to purchase now. You could likely reach out to your flexible spending account or your health savings account and include these. It's not something that insurers are encouraging people to do. For the time being, they're telling them to think of them as personal expenses.
That's Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter. Coming up, she'll talk about the personal finance impact of the coronavirus and explain how consumers might benefit from the Fed lowering interest rates. That's next.
Between testing for coronavirus, buying hand sanitizer, and stocking up on supplies in the event of self-quarantine, being prepared can be expensive. But do consumers have to foot the bill?
Is coronavirus testing free and who covers tests outside public health labs?
Let's bring in Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter for some answers. So, Julia, a big question I'm sure people have is, what does it cost to get tested?
What we know right now is that testing is going to be free in public health laboratories. That's provided by the CDC. But if you're getting tested somewhere that's outside of that scope, then you'll have to see if it's covered by your insurance.
And in some cases, states have stepped forward and said to the insurance companies, you can't charge consumers out-of-pocket costs.
New York is one of those states. New York announced earlier this week that health insurers will have to waive out-of-pocket costs related to testing.
And this can be where in-network versus out-of-network hospital selection can be important.
We still don't know what's going to happen for people who are uninsured or for people who are in out-of-network hospitals or in out-of-network, seeing out-of-network providers. We do know that for people in-network, they're probably going to be viewing this just like they would any other kind of care.
People are also spending a lot of money on retail products for protection. Is any of that reimbursable?
Will insurers waive out‑of‑pocket costs for in‑network versus out‑of‑network testing?
So a lot of people have been talking about how things like hand sanitizer, face masks, these are protective pieces that people are running to purchase now. You could likely reach out to your flexible spending account or your health savings account and include these. It's not something that insurers are encouraging people to do. For the time being, they're telling them to think of them as personal expenses.
And the fears over the virus are really disrupting people's travel schedules. I would imagine a lot of cancellations.
Can you get reimbursed for hand sanitizer, masks, or other protective supplies?
A ton of cancellations, both people canceling their own travel and airlines canceling planned travel. And the difference between that is that if the airline cancels your flight, you're eligible to be reimbursed. If you decide to cancel your flight, that's really determined or how you will be reimbursed is determined by the terms of your travel insurance policy.
Well, United Airlines, for one, says it's going to cut back on domestic and international flights in April because of reduced demand. You know, we're also seeing thousands of people being forced to self-quarantine at home, and that can result in a lot of missed work. Who's paying for that?
Yeah, there's definitely a personal cost. You know, if you are an hourly worker or somebody without sick leave that you're missing work, that's a personal cost to you. Some people have to arrange child care depending on where they're quarantined or how sick they are. But there's also a problem in terms of how how rare paid sick leave actually is.
Who pays when travel is canceled or you must self‑quarantine and miss work?
So while many countries provide or guarantee sick leave for their workers, America is not one of those countries. So depending on the policy in place at your workplace, that's something that experts are encouraging people to examine to see whether or not them being sick results in them losing pay or if that's something that their workplace allows them to do in order to keep the workplace safe as well.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Who explains which coronavirus expenses consumers might pay for?
0:05–1:12
2
Is coronavirus testing free and who covers tests outside public health labs?
1:12–2:15
3
Will insurers waive out‑of‑pocket costs for in‑network versus out‑of‑network testing?
2:15–2:43
4
Can you get reimbursed for hand sanitizer, masks, or other protective supplies?
2:43–3:37
5
Who pays when travel is canceled or you must self‑quarantine and miss work?
3:37–5:00
6
How can consumers benefit from Fed rate cuts and lower mortgage yields now?
5:00–5:30
Speakers
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