Beginning this weekend at-home COVID-19 tests will be covered by health insurance.
The news came on Monday as the Biden Administration faced mounting criticism over the ineffective rollout of COVID-19 tests since the start of the pandemic. To be clear, issues around testing were not new or unique to President Joe Biden’s term, but made for difficulty across the U.S.
Americans will have the ability to purchase at-home COVID-19 test kits for free through their insurance or submit receipts for tests to be reimbursed.
Insurance providers will have to pay for up to eight tests per month, per person. That means a family of five would be eligible for 40 free COVID-19 at-home tests per month.
For weeks there’s been a shortage of available tests. It’s unclear how making them free for individuals- instead of costing between $10 and $20 per test as they do now- will impact supply. That said, the Biden Administration says this is a step in the right direction.
“This is all part of our overall strategy to ramp up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests at no cost,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “By requiring private health plans to cover people’s at-home tests, we are further expanding Americans’ ability to get tests for free when they need them.”
COVID-19 tests at facilities and clinics will be covered by health insurers, too, according to the Biden Administration.
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