Who pays for free covid testing8/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Can a health care provider charge for a COVID-19 vaccine? Here’s what you need to know about costs of COVID-related care in New York City. “It’s damage for COVID, it’s damage for when the next pandemic comes around, it’s damage when someone has a heart attack.” Stephanie Woolhandler, a professor of urban public health at Hunter College. “It does long-range damage every time someone shows up to get care and gets surprised by a giant bill,” said Dr. It’s not clear, either, that Congress will provide enough funding to restore the reimbursement program at all, leaving uninsured Americans to pay for testing and treatment at private providers indefinitely. Making tests prohibitively expensive, especially for uninsured or underinsured people, they say, will only exacerbate existing health care disparities, and make people less likely overall to seek medical care. The wave of costs, coming as the omicron subvariant BA.2 is causing a slow rise in infections in the city, has health experts and doctors concerned. Reports have begun to fill social media of people being surprised by quotes or charges for PCR tests that have been free for much of the pandemic. Since then, many private health providers, no longer able to receive money from the government to cover COVID-19 costs for uninsured people, or costs that may have covered copay fees, have begun charging for such care. Last month, a federal government fund that reimbursed pharmacies, hospitals and other health care providers for the costs of COVID-related care ran dry, without being refilled by Congress. Many residents are now also facing another new uncertainty: the cost of COVID-related care. A spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said that, once the public health emergency ends, “some Medicare Advantage plans may cover and pay for COVID-19 tests as an added benefit.” People who are covered under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program will be eligible for free tests through September 2024.A new wave of COVID-19 is bearing down on the city, with health experts unsure about what impact it will have Mayor Eric Adams tested positive Sunday, and is working remotely, according to City Hall.For people outside of California, “coverage depends on state or local mandates in-network and out-of-network coverage for COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatment,” a Kaiser Permanente representative said in a statement. 11, 2023 to members in that state, except those covered under Medicare Advantage plans. Kaiser Permanente, which is based in California, will provide up to eight free tests per month through Nov.After that, Blue Cross Blue Shield plans may implement “reasonable limits on the use of tests.” Local chapters that make up the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association will reimburse at-home testing costs through May 11, confirmed executive vice president and chief corporate affairs officer Sean Robbins in a statement provided to TIME.A representative from Aetna declined to comment, but information posted online says it will not cover at-home tests beginning May 12.A representative from UnitedHealthcare did not provide a comment before press time, but its website specifies that over-the-counter tests will not be covered after May 11 “unless mandated by state regulatory requirements.” California state law, for example, extends the free testing provision through Nov.However, information posted on Cigna’s website says it will no longer cover at-home tests starting May 12, 2023. A representative from Cigna did not respond to TIME’s comment requests by press time.Here’s how some major insurers are planning to handle the end of the public health emergency:
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