At-home COVID tests will be paid for by health insurers starting Saturday [masslive.com]

At-home COVID tests will soon be paid for by private health insurance.

The Biden administration announced the change Monday to now require insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, we are requiring insurers and group health plans to make tests free for millions of Americans. This is all part of our overall strategy to ramp-up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests at no cost,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Since we took office, we have more than tripled the number of sites where people can get COVID-19 tests for free, and we’re also purchasing half a billion at-home, rapid tests to send for free to Americans who need them. By requiring private health plans to cover people’s at-home tests, we are further expanding Americans’ ability to get tests for free when they need them.”

On Jan. 15, insurance companies are required to cover eight free at-home COVID tests per person each month. Although there is no limit if ordered or administered by a health care provider, according to the statement.

“That means a family of four, all on the same plan, would be able to get up to 32 of these tests covered by their health plan per month,” the statement said.

However, some insurance companies might require customers to submit a claim after purchasing the tests. That idea has received push back with people pointing out the inability for some to wait to be reimbursed or dealing with insurance companies overall.

Many have also pointed out the 28 million people that did not have health insurance in the U.S. in 2020.

And some are simply pointing out that it doesn’t fix the supply chain issue, which is making the tests hard to find.

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