President Donald Trump on Friday announced that the federal government will cover the costs of COVID-19 tests and treatment for people who have no health insurance.

The new program , which administration officials said Friday they were still finalizing, reportedly wont cover non-coronavirus expenses . It also wont help people who have insurance but face out-of-pocket costs for their coronavirus care.

These and other shortcomings are likely to become bigger problems in the next few weeks as more people develop the illness and rising unemployment leads to more uninsured. The middle of a lethal pandemic is not exactly the best time to have large numbers of Americans afraid to get medical care because of the prospect of high bills.

Democrats, including presidential candidate Joe Biden , have already proposed more ambitious initiatives than Trump has.

Still, Trumps initiative will make a big difference for the uninsured. And it will do so by having the federal government pay their COVID-related costs directly which is the kind of thing that Trump and his allies in the Republican Party have been known to attack as socialism.

What Trumps Plan Does And Doesnt Do

The money for Trumps initiative, first reported by Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal , will come from a $100 billion allotment for health care providers that was part of the economic rescue package Congress passed and Trump signed a week ago. The funds will go directly to the hospitals that serve the uninsured, covering each patients coronavirus-related charges.

In theory, those uninsured Americans wont have to pay a penny for that care. Thats a big deal, given the potential of hospital charges from COVID-19 care to wallop the average Americans finances and to discourage the uninsured from getting care in the first place.