Estimates of COVID-19 Costs Emerge Amid Uncertainty
In recent days, actuaries and economists have begun to estimate how much it will cost to care for those stricken by COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Since the crisis is still at an early stage, and medical data collection and analysis is limited, those estimates have a wide range.
Covered California, the California individual insurance exchange, estimated in a March 22 report that the total cost of COVID-19 coverage for the national commercial market could range from $34 billion to $251 billion in 2020. FAIR Health, a patient advocacy group, in a March 25 report estimated a possible range of $362 billion to $1.449 trillion in charges for hospitalized patients and $139 billion to $558 billion in allowed amounts.