What About Covid Test Kits?
Rules remain in place for insurers, including Medicare and Affordable Care Act plans, to cover the cost of up to eight in-home test kits a month for each person on the plan, until the public health emergency ends.
For consumers — including those without insurance — a government website is still offering up to four test kits per household, until they run out. The Biden administration shifted funding to purchase additional kits and made them available in late December.
Starting in May, though, beneficiaries in original Medicare and many people with private, job-based insurance will have to start paying out-of-pocket for the rapid antigen test kits. Some Medicare Advantage plans, which are an alternative to original Medicare, might opt to continue covering them without a copayment. Policies will vary, so check with your insurer. And Medicaid enrollees can continue to get the test kits without cost for a little over a year.
State rules also can vary, and continued coverage without cost sharing for covid tests, treatments, and vaccines after the health emergency ends might be available with some health plans.
Overall, the future of covid tests, vaccines, and treatments will reflect the complicated mix of coverage consumers already navigate for most other types of care.
“From a consumer perspective, vaccines will still be free, but for treatments and test kits, a lot of people will face cost sharing,” said Jen Kates, a senior vice president at KFF. “We’re taking what was universal access and now saying we’re going back to how it is in the regular U.S. health system.”
KHN correspondent Darius Tahir contributed to this report.
*KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
Subscribe to KHN's free Morning Briefing.
More Articles
- Medical Billing and Collections Among Older Americans
- Congressional Budget Office: Federal Budget Deficit Totals $1.4 Trillion in 2023; Annual Deficits Average $2.0 Trillion Over the 2024–2033 Period
- Center for Strategic and International Studies: “The Future Outlook with Dr. Anthony Fauci”
- Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF): Over 200,000 Residents and Staff in Long-Term Care Facilities Have Died From COVID-19
- Kaiser Health News (KHN): Colleges and Universities Plan for Normal-ish Campus Life in the Fall
- Jill Norgren Reviews The Doctor's Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women — and Women to Medicine
- *KFF: Gaps in Cost Sharing Protections for COVID-19 Testing and Treatment Could Spark Public Concerns About COVID-19 Vaccine Costs
- Stateline, Biden Likely to Help States Increase Health Care Access: December 15, 2020, Last Day to Enroll In or Change Plans for 2021 Coverage and GAO Reports on Breast and Cervical Cancer.
- Kaiser Health Foundation: Distributing a COVID-19 Vaccine Across the U.S. - A Look at Key Issues
- Federal Reserve: Optimism in the Time of COVID; Businesses Seem Much Better Adapted to Remaining Open
