Private health plans are now required to cover at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 tests. CHIR’s Megan Houston and Rachel Swindle reviewed the coverage policies of 51 insurers to see how consumers can access this benefit. They found a number of plans with restrictions that go beyond what federal guidelines allow.
The Biden administration has announced a new policy to require health plans to pay for at-home COVID-19 tests. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette walks through the pros and cons of their approach.
Insurers are still required to fully cover COVID-19 testing, but finding a free test is a lot more difficult than it was last year. As we approach holiday gatherings, the need for affordable and accessible COVID-19 testing is critical. CHIR’s Megan Houston reviews the current state of COVID-19 testing coverage and considers what might be done to improve accessibility.
President Biden has issued an Executive Order likely to expand the mandate for private insurers to cover, and waive cost-sharing, for COVID-19 testing. However, the Brookings Institution’s Loren Adler and Sabrina Corlette argue in a new blog post for Health Affairs that Congress will also need to act to ensure that the mandate doesn’t encourage price gouging by providers, and to fully eliminate cost barriers to universal testing.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the individual blog post authors and do not represent the views of Georgetown University, the Center on Health Insurance Reforms, any organization that the author is affiliated with, or the opinions of any other author who publishes on this blog.
