Cost-Sharing Waivers and Premium Relief by Private Plans in Response to COVID-19 (Nov. 2020 Update)

An updated issue brief estimates the number of enrollees in individual and fully-insured group market plans that have waived cost-sharing – out-of-pocket costs including coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles – for COVID-19 treatment. The analysis also estimates the number of enrollees whose insurer is offering various forms of premium payment relief.

The updated analysis finds that, as of November 2020, about half (49%) of fully-insured plan enrollees have coverage that waives cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment through the end of the year. Additionally, 40% of individual market and fully-insured group market enrollees were in plans offering some form of premium relief during the pandemic. It remains unclear, however, how much longer insurers will continue to voluntarily offer premium relief and waive cost-sharing.

A previous version of this analysis was released in August 2020.

The brief can be found on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online information hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system.