At this time, the following insurance payers are covering telehealth visits and waiving any cost-sharing obligations for their members for COVID 19 related diagnostic and antibody testing:

• 1199
• Aetna
• Aetna Better Health of NJ
• Amerigroup
• Amerihealth
• Cigna
• Medicare
• Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Horizon NJ Health
• Qualcare
• Create Health Plans
• United Health Care and Oxford
• Wellcare, NJ

Patients with these insurance providers can scan their insurance cards for processing.

For all other patients, the virtual visit consult fee will be $50.

If you do not have insurance coverage, there will be no charge for COVID 19 related testing and treatment visits.

If a provider determines that you should get antibody testing for coronavirus, there will be an additional $25 test fee for self pay patients and for those with insurances not listed above.

Timing is important for antibody tests. If you take it too early, the antibodies may not have formed yet. The test done at our office looks for IgG antibodies, which typically develops 7-14 days after onset of infection. While our Coronavirus diagnostic test is available for patients who are currently showing symptoms, antibody tests are intended for people who are currently healthy but have had the disease or think they may have had the disease. During our virtual pre-screening, we can discuss your situation and determine if you are eligible for an antibody test.

The antibody test is a quick blood test that tells patients if they have ever been infected with the disease by looking for antibodies in the patients’ blood. Antibodies are created when the body fights an infection, including COVID-19. This same process occurs when you get a vaccine such as a flu shot. The Coronavirus antibody test checks for these antibodies, instead of the disease itself, to see if the body has responded to the infection.

Antibody tests are being developed rapidly and their full implications still aren’t known, but they are going to prove very helpful for scientists to learn how common COVID-19 is, how it affects people, and what happens when people get exposed to it again after being infected. At this time, experts are uncertain whether a positive antibody test confers immunity to SARS COV-2 and if so, how long that immunity will last. Based on data reviewed during the 2003 SARS outbreak, patients with antibodies for SARS-CoV were observed to have immunity for an average of 2 years.