Opinion: Telemedicine can blunt the cost of unnecessary emergency visits for Covid-19

Conversations that dominated the health policy discourse only a few weeks ago have been suspended as we scramble to contain Covid-19. The overall cost of health care in the United States was a first-order concern before the virus struck. Now, most people are focused on the critically important but narrower issue of the price tag of Covid-19 testing and treatment.

While we absolutely must reorganize our collective efforts to secure the health of our communities, the issue of ballooning health care costs will not only persist but get worse as we grapple with Covid-19.

In theory, a and state-level emergency dollars will defray added costs. But everyone so far seems to be glossing over an expensive piece of the virus-management puzzle whose cost will be borne by the system. Calculating the cost of Covid-19 using the formula of testing plus treatment leaves out the