End of COVID public health emergency means Ohioans could face more out-of-pocket expenses

The coronavirus-related public health emergency ended Thursday, meaning more Ohioans could face out-of-pocket expenses that had previously been covered by the federal government or insurers (Source: “With public health emergency’s end, more out-of-pocket COVID-19 costs coming,” Cleveland.com, May. 11).
 
COVID-19 testing, vaccines and treatments will eventually return to typical health care coverage – some sooner than others, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said during a Thursday news conference.
 
When the Trump Administration declared the public health emergency three years ago, “the main goal was to help people get access to care,” Vanderhoff said. But the virus has changed from a pandemic to an endemic, or an illness that regularly occurs in a community, he said.
 
“It’s important to underline the end of the public health emergency does nothing to change the message about the importance of staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines,” he said. “If anything, it reminds us that getting vaccinated has played a big part in hopefully getting
COVID-19 under control and allowing us to return to more normalcy.”
 
According to Ohio Department of Health data, more than 42,000 Ohioans have died, more than 140,000 have been hospitalized and there have been more than 3.4 million cases of COVID-19 in the state since the pandemic began in March 2020.