The Impact of Waived Cost-Sharing Policy on COVID-19 Daily Testing and Deaths

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a public health problem that threatens the world since December of 2019. Several studies demonstrated that enacting waived cost-sharing policies positively impacts the utilization rates of preventative services, but its impact on COVID-19 deaths and tests is largely unknown. Methods We hypothesize that applying a waived cost-sharing policy for COVID-19 testing and treatment leads to an increase in the number of COVID-19 tests and a reduction in daily COVID-19 deaths in the State of Michigan. Total test results increase, and total deaths increased were compared pre and post-policy enactment in the State of Michigan and compared to that of the State of Illinois where no such policy existed. Data were obtained from the Coronavirus resources center page at the John Hopkins University of Medicine. A difference in differences approach was employed and linear regression was used to assess data pre and post the policy enactment. Statistical significance was assessed at the 0.05 level. Results The state of Michigan had fewer daily COVID-19-related deaths with fewer daily COVID-19 tests than the State of Illinois by 50.19 cases and 28,879 tests respectively. The post-policy period had more daily COVID-19 tests than the pre-policy period by 51,350 tests. Conclusion A waived cost-sharing policy for COVID-19 testing and treatment had a positive effect on increasing COVID-19 testing and reducing COVID-19-related deaths at the state level as evident from the experience of two mid-western states.