Trump to Announce Free Virus Treatment for Americans Without Insurance

President Donald Trump holds up the results of his CCP virus test in the press briefing room with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in Washington on April 2, 2020. Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Donald Trump will announce on Friday free CCP virus treatment for uninsured Americans.

Around 30 million people in the country lack insurance.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, top administration officials are focused on a plan that would relieve people without insurance from paying for virus testing or treatment. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

“The president has made it clear: we don’t want any American to worry about the cost of getting a test or the cost of getting treatment,” Vice President Mike Pence, the White House Coronavirus Task Force head, told reporters on Thursday night.

The task force is working on a proposal that would use some of the $100 billion directed toward hospitals in a recent piece of legislation to compensate hospitals directly for any CCP virus treatment they provide to uninsured Americans.

The exact details are still being worked out.

A staff member of Odyssey House Louisiana, which runs a drive-through testing site for the CCP virus, waves to passing vehicles to try to alert the community about testing in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 27, 2020. Kathleen Flynn/Reuters

A health care worker tests people at a drive-through testing station run by the state health department, for people who suspect they have the CCP virus, in Denver, Colorado, on March 11, 2020. Jim Urquhart/Reuters

“There are 30-odd million uninsured Americans and the president has directed the coronavirus task force to find a way to make sure that they know we will find a way to pay for the coronavirus treatment and the president will be announcing that tomorrow,” Pence said at the White House.

Many insurance companies waived co-payment for virus testing and some Blue Cross companies will waive cost-sharing treatment for COVID-19, the company announced earlier in the day.

Coverage under Medicaid and Medicare has also been expanded to include CCP virus testing and treatment as well as telehealth services.

Administration officials have declined to commit to reopening the insurance marketplace and Trump on Thursday said they’re looking at a different method of helping those without insurance.

“We’re going to try to get a cash payment to the people and we’re working out the mechanics of that with the legislature,” the president said.

“Just opening it up doesn’t help as much. We’re going to try and get, for that certain group of people, a cash payment.”