WASHINGTON (AP) — When the COVID-19 public fitness emergency ends in the U. S. next month, you’ll still have access to a multitude of tests, but with one big difference: Who will pay for them.
For the first time, you may have to cover some or all of the costs, depending on insurance coverage and whether the tests are done at home or in a doctor’s office.
But there is still time to get loose tests before the May 11 change, and there may also be loose tests afterward. Some state and local governments may continue to distribute loose home tests to clinics, libraries, and network centers. And the federal government, for now, continues to send loose evidence through the U. S. Postal Service. Families who have not yet received two shipments are in the U. S.
And don’t forget the old tests you didn’t use. The expiration date on the packaging may have been extended. The Food and Drug Administration provides a checklist to check which tests are still good.
Here’s a look at what ended the government’s emergency declaration on May 11 to prove:
Significant maximum adjustments will be made to over-the-counter testing, which now accounts for the vast majority of screening tests in the United States.
Since the beginning of 2021, the federal government has required all compatible individual insurers to cover up to 8 COVID-19 tests per month. This requirement will soon disappear. Coverage will also expire for tens of millions of seniors under the federal government’s Medicare program, even though some members of Congress are pushing to expand benefits.
While some personal insurers may continue to cover some or all at-home testing, there will no longer be a national rule. A two-test package costs between $20 and $24.
“What we’re going to see is a hodgepodge of approaches from other insurance companies, which will make it harder for Americans to know what they’re going to pay,” said Christina Silcox of the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy, which recently released a report on the test prospects.
An exception will be for others enrolled in the government’s Medicaid program for low-income Americans and families, who will continue to get free testing through September 2024.
Americans can also expect to pay more for any COVID-19 screening done at a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office.
Insurers have been prohibited from charging other countries or any cost-sharing fees similar to COVID-19 testing. This requirement also ends next month.
Although insurers will continue to cover the prices of the basic checks, other people may have to pay new fees for part of the value of the check or for the facilities of the doctor who writes it. Lab checks have ranged from $70 to $100 and some of this can be passed on to patients as well.
COVID-19 vaccines and drugs will continue to be loose because they are not paid for through insurance, but through the federal government. One fear is that uncertainty around test pricing will only lead to processing delays. Current remedies for high-risk patients, such as Paxlovid, must be taken within the first few days of symptoms to be effective.
If other people are concerned about testing costs, “they would possibly wait a few days to see if things clear up and miss that five-day remedy window,” Silcox said.
The United States struggled to increase its testing production capacity in the first two years of the pandemic, and it was called to be reduced after an outbreak. Experts fear the country will be caught off guard after the federal government stopped buying bulk tests.
Only after the U. S. governmentAnnouncing that it would buy one billion tests, production stabilized, reaching a peak of 900 million tests per month in February 2022.
“These bulk purchases necessarily secured the market for manufacturers,” said Jennifer Kates, senior vice president of the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.
As of September, brands were still generating more than 400 million tests in a month, surpassing U. S. testing levels. According to Duke researchers.
Companies adding Abbott Labs say they will increase check production as needed. But the company declined to talk about express production targets or how they will be affected until the end of the physical emergency.
Congress has been reluctant to buy more evidence, and Biden’s administration has proposed new spending in its most recent budget.
“That initial assurance from the federal government that volatility will no longer be there,” Kates said.
TEST TECHNOLOGY
The many other legal COVID-19 tests through the Food and Drug Administration over the past three years will be available after May 11. That’s because the FDA legalizes those products as part of a separate emergency action that isn’t affected to the end. of national reports.
Still, FDA officials have encouraged manufacturers to seek full regulatory approval, which will allow their products to remain on the market indefinitely. Last month, the FDA officially approved the first immediate COVIDArray.
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