CNN
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When the COVID-19 public health emergency in the US ends this month, coronavirus tests will still be available, but there will be changes to who pays for them.
Questions remain about what exactly those coverage changes will look like, but the guarantee of free trials will be lost for many, and some costs may change and become out-of-pocket.
There are still ways to take advantage of the benefits provided by the public health emergency before it expires on May 11.
For the past two years, the federal government has required private insurance companies to cover up to eight Covid-19 tests each month. Home test kits can be found at pharmacies and other local retailers, and costs may be covered in advance or reimbursed by insurance plans.
The Biden administration launched COVIDtests.gov in January 2022 to allow US households to order free Covid-19 test kits to be sent home. He place is still up and running, with four free trials available to any household that hasn’t ordered since December.
Additionally, the US Food and Drug Administration has extended the expiration date of many home tests beyond what is printed on the box. Consult the agency website before throwing them away.
“People should go out there and make sure they have testing available, because what we know about covid is that it’s pretty bad, and clearly people can get it more than once,” said Mara Aspinall, a professor in the College of Health Solutions. from Arizona State University. and an expert in testing and diagnostics.
“It is critical that people have the ability to get tested and then self-isolate or stay home if they test positive.”
After the public health emergency ends, Covid-19 tests, both home tests and laboratory tests, will be subject to cost-sharing, in which the costs of services are divided between the patient and their health plan. sure.
Private insurers will no longer be required to cover testing costs. The federal government has encouraged continuity of coverage, but ultimately each company will be able to make their own decision. So far, details about those plans are scant.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association told CNN that it is evaluating the best way to keep members informed about the changes. Moving to the next phase, coverage may include “reasonable limits” on testing.
“As COVID-19 becomes endemic, each Blue Cross and Blue Shield company is looking to best support access to diagnostic testing for COVID-19, just as it is done for all other diagnostic tests. said David Merritt, senior vice president of policy and advocacy for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We are committed to protecting patients from unnecessary costs, while making sure they get the care they need, when they need it.”
Aetna told CNN it had no details to share. Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Medicare Part B beneficiaries will continue to be covered for laboratory tests when ordered by a provider, but the same will not apply for home tests.
For those with Medicaid plans, all tests will continue to be covered for free until the end of September 2024.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also continue to support the uninsured and socially vulnerable communities “pending the availability of resources,” according to a report. road map described by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
There may also be other avenues for free or inexpensive testing, perhaps through state and local governments or other programs.
Recently, for example, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced the expansion of a program which now allows all state residents to apply for free tests through June.
The Rockefeller Foundation, a private philanthropic organization, has also expanded a public-private partnership program which works with states to get free tests for at-risk communities.
“The testing phenomenon during Covid changed many times,” Aspinall said.
It was a central focus at first, but then the priority shifted to vaccines, he said. Omicron’s initial wave led to renewed interest in testing, and long waits for lab tests prompted people to test at home.
“It put power and privacy in the hands of an individual consumer,” Aspinall said.
Millions of households took advantage of free Covid-19 tests provided by the federal government in the months after it was launched, and a recent CDC report shows that the program helped bring kits to many people who might not otherwise have been tested and improved testing equity overall.
About 60% of US households ordered a test kit from COVIDTests.gov, and nearly a third of all US households reported using at least one of those tests in April or May of the year past.
Nearly a quarter of people who reported using government-provided tests said they probably would not have been tested for Covid-19 if it hadn’t been for the free kits, according to the report, suggesting that more than 13 Millions of people took a covid-19 test. that otherwise would not have. More than 1 in 5 people who used their free tests reported at least one positive result.
In general, use of the free test kits was similar across all racial and ethnic groups. This is a “considerable difference” from other home test kits, where use was “highly unequal,” according to the report. Blacks were more likely than whites to use the tests provided through COVIDTests.gov, but were 72% less likely than whites to use other at-home test kits.
Now, however, Covid-19 cases are a third of what they were a year ago, and hospitalizations and deaths are the lowest they’ve ever been. Testing rates have also dropped significantly.
Along with the decline in transmission, the volume of testing may have decreased as people better understand what the course of an infection looks like, Aspinall said.
She estimates that people may use an average of one or two tests per incident, versus an average of five or six.
While covid-19 “remains a public health priority,” the federal government says that “we are in a better position in our response than three years ago, and we can move out of the emergency phase.”
Still, experts agree that continuous monitoring is key. Advances in technologies like wastewater monitoring have helped supplement dwindling testing data, but testing will continue to be an important tool for people to keep themselves and their loved ones safe and healthy.
“The public health emergency may be over, but Covid is not over,” Aspinall said.
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