When the COVID-19 public well being emergency expires on the finish of the day on Might 11, many pandemic-era rules and programs will finish. Amongst them is the assure that Medicare and personal insurers will cover the costs of up to eight at-home COVID-19 tests per individual every month, a coverage that has been in place since 2022 and helped gas a rise in at-home diagnoses.
With no federal requirement, most well being insurers are free to make their very own choices about whether or not to reimburse some or all at-home testing prices transferring ahead. Which means, relying on insurance coverage protection, some People should have the ability to get exams free of charge, whereas others must pay retail costs of roughly $10 per take a look at (or round $20 per field of two, which is what number of are bought).
Right here’s how some main insurers are planning to deal with the tip of the general public well being emergency:
- A consultant from Cigna didn’t reply to TIME’s remark requests by press time. Nevertheless, information posted on Cigna’s website says it should now not cowl at-home exams beginning Might 12, 2023.
- A consultant from UnitedHealthcare didn’t present a remark earlier than press time, however its website specifies that over-the-counter exams won’t be coated after Might 11 “except mandated by state regulatory necessities.” California state law, for instance, extends the free testing provision by Nov. 11, 2023.
- A consultant from Aetna declined to remark, however information posted online says it won’t cowl at-home exams starting Might 12.
- Native chapters that make up the nationwide Blue Cross Blue Protect Affiliation will reimburse at-home testing prices by Might 11, confirmed government vp and chief company affairs officer Sean Robbins in an announcement supplied to TIME. After that, Blue Cross Blue Protect plans could implement “cheap limits on the usage of exams.”
- Kaiser Permanente, which relies in California, will present as much as eight free exams per thirty days by Nov. 11, 2023 to members in that state, besides these coated beneath Medicare Benefit plans. For folks exterior of California, “protection will depend on state or native mandates [and] in-network and out-of-network protection for COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and therapy,” a Kaiser Permanente consultant mentioned in an announcement.
- A spokesperson for the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers mentioned that, as soon as the general public well being emergency ends, “some Medicare Benefit plans could cowl and pay for [over-the-counter] COVID-19 exams as an additional benefit.” People who find themselves coated beneath Medicaid or the Kids’s Well being Insurance coverage Program might be eligible for free tests through September 2024.
Even when your well being insurer stops masking at-home exams, you could possibly buy them utilizing funds from a health savings account or flexible spending account. You might also have the ability to get free kits at your library, well being division, or by one other group group. And the federal government is still sending free kits to households who haven’t already claimed their allotted swabs.
Speedy and PCR testing will proceed to be out there in pharmacies and physician’s workplaces, however shoppers could also be chargeable for some or the entire prices, depending on their insurance.
The surest strategy to get free exams? Replenish by your insurance coverage plan earlier than Might 12.
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