By Sabrina Corlette and Madeline O’Brien

Many states responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with actions intended to help residents obtain affordable or cost-free health care services. In most cases, states have required insurers to cover certain services or lift bureaucratic hurdles to coverage under temporary emergency orders. Georgetown CHIR has been tracking states’ actions for the duration of the pandemic; many of these emergency orders are about to expire. This means that most states’ COVID-19-related coverage mandates will also expire. Some have already. Yet, whether or not we experience a “second wave” of the virus in the months ahead, SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be with us for a long time. In their latest post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, CHIR experts Sabrina Corlette and Madeline O’Brien consider whether, and to what extent, states should extend mandates past the emergency period. Read the full post here.