Health Plans Required to Cover Coronavirus Screening

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian health plans will be required to cover the tests to determine the new coronavirus infection (Covid-19). The National Supplementary Health Agency (ANS) will include the procedure among the obligatory items to be funded by the insurance companies.

The news was released yesterday, March 10th, at a press conference of the Ministry of Health. Earlier in the evening, the ANS released a note confirming the special decision.

The body’s Board of Directors decided on the measure in a meeting held yesterday with representatives of health plans and organizations representing the supplementary health sector. The body reported that it is still regulating which types of tests, protocols and the deadline for companies to adjust to the decision.

Furthermore, according to the ANS, treatment for the disease is already guaranteed to infected patients. However, coverage depends on the patient’s plan segmentation.

In early March, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) began distributing kits for the diagnosis of the Covid-19 to laboratories in Rio de Janeiro. At first the test was only performed in three states – São Paulo, Pará, and Goiás.

The laboratories in the North (Amazonas, Pará, and Roraima), Northeast (Bahia, Ceará, Pernambuco, and Sergipe), Southeast (Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, and Minas Gerais), Center-West (Federal District and Mato Grosso do Sul) and South (Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul) will be provided with the kits and will be trained by the end of the month.

The kits were developed in Brazil by the Institute of Technology in Immunobiology (Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz) and the Institute of Molecular Biology of Paraná (IBMP). The training will be conducted by the Laboratory of Respiratory Virus and Measles of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz).

Fiocruz is able to provide 25,000 to 30,000 tests per week, and the pace should meet the demand established by the Ministry of Health.

In addition to tests for coronaviruses, the Fiocruz will provide laboratories with kits to detect Influenza A and B viruses, which contributes to differential diagnosis when the confirmation of one virus rules out the possibility of another.

Source: Agência Brasil