Politics & Government

Illinois Has Among The Highest Costs For COVID-19 Cases

"Illinois was 15th overall for the highest cost per COVID-19 case at $151 per person, per case," QuoteWizard analyst Adam Johnson said.

By Kevin Bessler

A study shows Illinois has among the highest costs in the country for the testing and treatment of COVID-19.

Find out what's happening in Across Illinoisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

A recent analysis by QuoteWizard of Centers for Disease Control data on claims reimbursements to health care facilities for testing and treatment of the uninsured ranked Illinois in the top half of the country.

“Essentially how much a state is spending on uninsured people per case, so Illinois was 15th overall for the highest cost per COVID-19 case at $151 per person, per case,” analyst Adam Johnson said.

Find out what's happening in Across Illinoisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Other key findings included states are averaging $142 of claim reimbursement per case, and over half of the states with a high rate of uninsured are states with the highest reimbursement costs per case.

New Jersey had the highest cost per COVID-10 case at $586, but only has a 7% uninsured rate. The lowest cost in the country is in Montana at $8 per case.

Pandemic job losses have led to more than 5 million people losing health insurance coverage through employers. An estimated 10 million will have lost employer coverage by the end of the year.

Congress intervened with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and the Coronavirus Air, Relief and Economic Security Act. Stimulus packages passed by Congress allocated $176 billion toward reimbursement for hospitals and healthcare facilities. About $1.5 billion in reimbursed claims have already been paid for testing and treating of COVID-10 in America.


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