HealthPartners waives Medicare cost-sharing for primary care, behavioral health visits

Cost relief encourages members to seek care during COVID-19

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – HealthPartners today announced it is waiving Medicare member cost-sharing for all in-network primary care and behavioral health visits, effective July 1-Dec. 31, 2020. This will provide members with financial relief and encourage members to seek important and necessary care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cost-sharing will be waived for in-person, phone and video primary care and behavioral health visits, including visits for substance abuse when services provided are in-network. This applies to all HealthPartners Medicare Advantage, Cost and group retiree plans in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

“We want to remove any barriers that we can for Medicare members to receive prompt and appropriate care,” said Dr. Patrick Courneya, HealthPartners chief health plan medical officer. “Even through this pandemic, it’s still safe and very important for members to seek primary care and other necessary services to maintain and protect health and well-being.”

This is HealthPartners’ latest step to relieve costs for Medicare members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other efforts include:

• Full coverage of COVID-related testing and treatment without cost sharing, effective March 1 through the end of the public health emergency
• Waived member cost-sharing for in-network e-visits and phone visits
• All virtuwell.com visits offered at zero cost-sharing
• Participation in federal special enrollment opportunity for Medicare beneficiaries who missed their chance to enroll in a Medicare health or drug plan due to COVID-19