Trump claimed fees for coronavirus treatment will be waived. The health care industry has no idea what he's talking about

Officials quickly corrected Donald Trump’s seemingly unfounded claims in an Oval Office address about the coronavirus and steps his administration had allegedly taken to secure treatment with no co-payments for Americans who contract the illness.

At first, it sounded like the White House administration achieved a major victory in its efforts to combat the spread of the global pandemic, as the president discussed a meeting he held with executives from several major health insurance companies.

“Earlier this week, I met with the leaders of health insurance industry,” he said, “who have agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments, extend insurance coverage to these treatments, and to prevent surprise medical billing."

If accurate, the announcement would mean Americans don’t have to worry about facing out-of-pocket expenses when seeking treatment for coronavirus, which is far more expensive than the initial testing required to confirm a patient has contracted the mysterious new illness.

But shortly after the speech, a spokesperson for one of the leading trade associations for private health insurers in the US fact-checked the president while denying fees would be waived for treatment.

In a statement to Politico’s healthcare reporter Sarah Owermohle, a representative for America's Health Insurance Plans said co-payments would be waived “for testing” but “not for treatment”.

The president appeared to be adding on to statements Mike Pence made a day earlier, when the vice president — who has been appointed to oversee the administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak — said Americans would not receive “surprise billing” for getting tested.

“We want people to get tested,” he said. “We want the American people to know that they are covered through private insurance. They are covered through Medicare and Medicaid. And there will be no surprise billing.”

The vice president also said that insurers had agreed to “extend coverage for coronavirus treatment in all of their benefit plans”.

However, that does not mean co-payments would be waived if a patient tests positive for the illness.

Kristine Grow, a spokesperson for AHIP, previously confirmed major health insurers would cover coronavirus treatment the same way they would for other infectious diseases, MarketWatch reported — which typically includes a variety of sometimes costly co-payments and other fees.

Mr Trump meant to echo his vice president’s comments during the Oval Office address on Wednesday night, according to CNN’s Jim Acosta, citing White House sources.

“Trump tonight said health insurers ‘have agreed to waive all [co-payments] for coronavirus treatments, extend insurance coverage to these treatments,’” the reporter tweeted. “WH official says Trump meant to echo what VP said yesterday that insurers ‘have agreed to waive all copays on coronavirus *testing.’”

The president also announced on Wednesday a ban on “all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days”, which caused the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly issue a statement clarifying that the ban does not apply to US citizens and permanent residents.

Mr Trump himself was seemingly forced to issue a clarification about trade nearly an hour after the address, writing on Twitter: “Very important for all countries & businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods.”