Coronavirus tests are free for 1.5 million people with CalPERS health insurance

The 1.5 million people with CalPERS health insurance won’t have to pay for medically necessary coronavirus tests, according to a spokeswoman for the retirement system.

The CalPERS policyholders won’t have to pay deductibles or co-pays for screening or tests for COVID-19, the disease that can result from coronavirus, spokeswoman Deborah Reyman said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara last week ordered insurers to waive cost-sharing for people who need the tests.

Those orders applied to about 24 million Californians, according to the announcement, including people with Medi-Cal health plans and 2 million people with private insurance.

Excluded from the order were many people who get their insurance through the “self-insured” health plans offered by many large employers.

About 1 million people with CalPERS health plans have HMO plans, which are covered by the order. The other half-million have PPOs, most of which are self-insured plans offered through insurer Anthem.

Deductibles and co-pays are waived for both groups of CalPERS plans.

About 160 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in California and four people have died, including one person in Sacramento County and one person Placer County. Public officials around the state are beginning to cancel public events to try to slow the virus’s spread.

This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Coronavirus tests are free for 1.5 million people with CalPERS health insurance."