Cassidy says new federal law will help COVID patients; CDC addresses ongoing guidance confusion - FOX 8 Live WVUE

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - As COVID hospitalizations increase Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana a new federal law he helped to craft will help patients with medical billing who are hospitalized due to the coronavirus and other patients as well.

Cassidy discussed the benefits of the No Surprises Act.

“Imagine you are brought to a hospital which is out of network and they put you in the hospital. One, you would have a big bill because it’s out of network or you go to an in-network hospital but the ER group has not signed a contract with the insurance company, so you get billed for the out-of-network physician or in some cases a piece of equipment used is not in-network, if you can believe that, and you get billed out of network. This bill addresses those situations,” said Cassidy.

Cassidy says the new law also addresses billing for elective procedures.

“And they have you sign a piece of paper but you’re not sure what you signed. You just signed that you will cover any cost not covered by your insurance, that may include somebody who is not in your network and may charge you whatever they wish to charge and they’re not in your network because the insurance company won’t negotiate with them, that ends this practice,” said Cassidy.

Meanwhile, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tried to clear confusion over the agency’s latest guidance on when and how people who tested positive for COVID should end isolation.

The CDC says if someone tested positive and had symptoms they should isolate for at least five days and those who are asymptomatic should do the same and also not travel for that time period.

After five days, individuals may end isolation if they had not had a fever for 24 hours without medication and people who experienced no COVID symptoms can also end isolation after five days.

A lot of controversy has swirled over the CDC not including a testing requirement to end isolation so on Tuesday the CDC’s updated guidance mentioned testing and what type of tests individuals may use if they so choose.

“So, if one is to take an extra step and perform a test at the end of their five-day isolation period, we wanted to make sure people understood how they should be interpreted. If that test is positive, people should stay home for those extra five days. And if that test is negative, people really do need to understand that they must continue to wear their mask for those extra five days after to complete a 10-day isolation period,” said Walensky.

Dr. Julio Figueroa is LSU Health New Orleans infectious diseases chief. “The concern around the community has been that for some people five days is plenty, you know, in other words, they are no longer having a virus that you can culture out of them in a laboratory,” said Figueroa. “Some people it’s a little bit longer.”

The CDC also recommends isolation of at least 10 days and up to 20 days for people who were severely ill with COVID and those with weakened immune systems and Walensky stands by the agency’s guidance that health care workers can return to work after seven days with a negative test result.

“Our infection control and prevention guidelines for healthcare workers is historically and always much more conservative than it is for the general public, and that is by design. That is because our healthcare workers are routinely caring for people who are immunosuppressed, routinely caring for vulnerable populations,” said Walensky.

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source: https://www.fox8live.com/2022/01/06/cassidy-says-new-federal-law-will-help-covid-patients-cdc-addresses-ongoing-guidance-confusion/

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