COVID-19 FAQs

Updated on August 31, 2022

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are protecting the health and safety of your employees and your business by:

  • Providing $0 coverage for home test kits. Find out more on our pages for employers and members.
  • Answering questions about COVID-19 vaccination. Please note that while employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine for free, self-funded groups will have an administrative charge for each full vaccination.
  • Making temporary changes to our policies to help your employees access the care they need—with no added worries about cost. These changes apply to all plans in the small group and large group fully insured markets. Some self-funded groups chose to opt out of some of these changes. Learn more in our FAQ page for members.
  • Providing information that you can download and share with your employees on the Employer Toolkit.

These FAQs below can also help answer questions you may have.

Supporting your business

Is a COVID-19 test for travel, employment, or school covered?

Testing for people without symptoms and no suspected exposure to COVID-19 is generally not covered by your employees’ BCBSRI health plan. To be covered, the COVID-19 test must be medically necessary and ordered by a healthcare provider. This includes people with COVID-19 symptoms and people have been exposed or may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. You can find information about testing sites on the Rhode Island Department of Health website or in this flyer.

Please note that separate rules apply to COVID-19 home test kits. For more information, please see the home test kit pages for employers and members.

What COVID-19 communications can I share with my employees?

You can share the Member section of this site with your employees for important benefit updates and other information related to COVID-19. On our Employer Toolkit, you can also download ready-to-use emails that you can share with your employees. Please review the content of the emails to make sure they apply to your benefit plan.

Sources: Rhode Island Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The above information is a summary of benefit and practice changes that apply at this time, and is subject to change. It is not a contract. For details about coverage, including any limits and exclusions not noted here, please contact your account management team at BCBSRI.