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With the current COVID-19 surge not expected to peak until mid-October, treatments for the deadly virus are set to cost much more for those infected. Michigan's large health insurers—including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Priority Health—are sunsetting their programs that waived all costs to patients treated for COVID-19. The waiving of cost-sharing for patients expires on Sept. 30 for the two insurers. More than 2 million Americans have checked into hospitals to get treated for severe cases of COVID-19 and many, thanks to insurers and government programs, have received no bills in the mail. (8/18)

The American Medical Association has created new billing codes so insurance programs can pay doctors, hospitals and others to administer a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. America's medical billing systems are ready to go even though the federal policy on widespread booster doses still requires a thumbs-up from the FDA and the CDC's expert vaccine panel. (Herman, 8/19)

Martin Gola knew the COVID-19 vaccine was supposed to be free. So he was surprised when, in July, he received a $32 bill from Nazareth Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia, where he’d gotten the two-dose Moderna vaccine. A few days later came another bill, this one for $79. The 59-year-old Philadelphia resident ignored the bills, but he got worried when weeks later Trinity Health, which owns Nazareth, called to collect on his overdue account. “I said: ‘It’s for COVID, it’s a free shot. I’m not paying that bill.’ They didn’t say anything and we hung up,” Gola recalled. (Gantz, 8/18)