Trump is wrong about insurers and coronavirus

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump incorrectly stated in his address to the nation that the health insurance industry has agreed to waive patient co-payments for treatment of COVID-19. The industry has not made such a commitment.

Instead, insurers agreed to cover the full cost of diagnostic tests to see whether people have the disease. That step does not shield insured people from potentially high medical bills as a result of getting sick from the coronavirus.

Trump’s misstatement on health insurance was one of a number of claims in his prime-time address that were at odds with the facts. He inaccurately described part of his own plan to restrict travel from Europe and appeared to hold out false hope that people infected in the current outbreak will see new treatments to hasten their healing.