Gov. Hogan Announces Initiative Requiring State Insurers To Waive Costs For Coronavirus Testing
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Gov. Larry Hogan issued a directive Friday requiring all state health insurers to waive costs associated with testing for coronavirus.
The directive, issued under the governor's authority during a State of Emergency, waives any cost-sharing; including copayments, coinsurance and deductibles, in order to remove cost barries for testing.
The governor also provided additional details regarding the three positive COVID-19 cases in Montgomery County. The three individuals—a married couple in their 70s, and a female in her 50s—all contracted the virus while on an Egyptian cruise of the Nile River.
One of the individuals who tested positive attended a recent gathering at The Village at Rockville.
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One of the patients also had contact with school children in Philadelphia upon returning home. That resulted in five Bucks County, Pennsylvania schools closing as a precaution.
Officials have declined to reveal more about the patients, but say they are cooperative and remain quarantined at home in Montgomery County in suburban Washington, DC.
The governor said that 44 people in Maryland have met the criteria for COVID-19 testing, including the three confirmed cases. A total of 33 individuals have tested negative, including the three Jewish School students who recently returned from New York after indirect contact with an individual who tested positive for coronavirus. Eight cases are still pending.