Premera Blue Cross is here to support members, employers, and healthcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Updates as of April 9, 2021
- Washington state revised vaccine eligibility to include everyone over the age of 16 effective April 15, 2021. See the vaccine section for details.
- New COBRA guidance was issued on March 1, 2021, to extend COBRA timelines and subsidies. See the Group Eligibility and Premiums section for details.
Premera is waiving cost shares for all COVID-19 related testing and treatment. Learn more.
For general questions about COVID-19:
Washington State Department of Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Association of Washington Business has an employer resource
list you may find helpful.
If you have health plan questions not covered in these resources, call our customer service team at the number on the back of the member ID card, or your assigned account manager.
We’ll be updating the following FAQ as additional information is available.
COVID-19 Key Dates
COVID-19 Coverage See related section for more information about health plan coverage. |
End Date |
Cost share waivers for FDA-approved COVID-19 diagnostic testing other virus/respiratory testing tied to a COVID-19 diagnosis (federal Families First Act and Washington State OIC mandate) |
April 21, 2021* |
Antibody tests covered when
done in an inpatient setting; late illness onset, or outpatient inflammatory
syndrome in children. Cost shares waived if criteria met. (CDC and EEOC guidelines) |
Policy effective July 1, 2020 Cost share criteria through April 4, 2021* |
Cost share waivers for treatment related to COVID-19 diagnosis is waived (Premera initiative) |
June 30, 2021 |
Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) available through telehealth (Premera initiative) |
December 31, 2021 |
PHP and IOP available through telehealth became policy:
- Partial hospitalization programs (PHP) for mental health and substance use disorders
- Intensive outpatient programs (IOP) for mental health and substance use disorder
- Telehealth policy updated to allow ongoing coverage effective January 1, 2021.
|
Policy effective January 1, 2021 |
Medicare Advantage members: cost shares waived for the healthcare provider visit and FDA-authorized COVID-19 diagnostic test for members who meet criteria for testing (CMS guidance) |
April 21, 2021* |
Waiver of prior authorization requirements for home health care or long-term facility services (Washington state OIC mandate) |
May 2, 2021 |
Prescription "refill too soon" override (Premera initiative) |
June 30, 2021 |
30-day premium grace period extended to 60 days for our fully insured groups. Grace period for OptiFlex monthly funding rates and ASC Admin Fee only extended. (Premera initiative) |
June 30, 2021 |
For plans with LWAC stop loss, the premium grace period is extended to 60 days from the current filed 31 days in the contract (Premera initiative) |
June 30, 2021 |
Waive the LOA and Actively at Work requirements for Self-Insured and OptiFlex groups (Premera initiative) |
June 30, 2021 |
Allowance for certain procedures to be handled through tele-dentistry became policy. (Premera initiative) |
Policy effective April 1, 2021 |
*HHS announced that the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) will likely remain in place for the entirety of 2021. However, a PHE declaration is limited by law to a 90-day period that can be terminated early or extended. Premera will extend federally mandated benefits every 90 days upon official renewal of the PHE by HHS Secretary. The HHS will provide 60-day notice if it decides to terminate PHE or allow it to expire.
COVID-19 vaccines
Note: We’re updating our vaccine FAQs as information becomes available. Information about vaccines and distribution will continue to evolve. We anticipate that broad scale vaccination across our populations(those not in the first few
phases) will likely not be until mid-2021.