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Tag: Rapid test

  • Coronavirus: Medicare to cover at-home rapid tests

    Coronavirus: Medicare to cover at-home rapid tests

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that Medicare will cover Covid-19 at-home rapid tests beginning this Spring. Tests will be available from pharmacies at no cost. This decision comes at a time when the US has seen more than 900,000 Covid-19 deaths, and on the heels of a Biden administration requirement for private insurers to cover at-home rapid tests. 

    These at-home tests are extremely important to help people catch the virus early. When symptoms are severe, early detection can lead to early treatment and a far greater likelihood of a good prognosis. But, these at-home tests can easily cost $10 a pop, and many people cannot afford them.

    This is the first time that Medicare will cover an over-the-counter medical product and also the first time that it will cover a product in full. Whether you are enrolled in Traditional Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan, the rapid tests will be covered. This is an important ruling for people with Medicare, a disproportionate number of whom have died or become extremely sick from the novel coronavirus.

    People with Medicare and others are also eligible for free coronavirus tests at community health clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers and, in many cases, from health care providers. For a free Covid-19 test near you, click here.

    The new Medicare policy will cover as many as eight at-home rapid tests a month for everyone with Medicare. Of course, you need to be able to find them. And, that’s not always easy.

    In the meantime, the Biden administration is distributing four tests per household free of charge to anyone who signs up on its website, covidtests.gov. Thankfully, the country appears to be over the latest Covid-19 surge and, with any luck, the tests will not be needed in the near future. However, predictions are that this is not the last of the novel coronavirus. Variants will spring up.

    To protect yourself from the virus, do your best to wear a K95 or N95 mask when you are indoors with others and in crowded places. These masks, as distinct from cloth masks, do an excellent job of protecting people from catching the virus.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

     

  • Coronavirus: Medicare should pay for at-home rapid tests

    Coronavirus: Medicare should pay for at-home rapid tests

    The conundrum: Older adults, even those who are vaccinated and boosted, are most prone to getting Covid-19. Yet, as of now, Medicare is not covering at-home rapid tests. Michelle Andrews reports for Kaiser Health News on why the Biden administration is requiring corporate insurers to cover these tests but not Medicare.

    The Biden administration now requires all corporate health insurers, including those offering coverage through the state health insurance exchanges, Medicaid and CHIP, to cover eight monthly at-home rapid coronavirus tests. But, people with Medicare do not have coverage for these tests. Medicare laws prevent Medicare from covering self-administered diagnostic tests, like the rapid tests, even though they are so important for containing the pandemic.

    As you likely know, the Covid-19 tests are hard to come by. They are not available at most pharmacies. And, when available, quantities tend to be limited. So, coverage of these tests might not help much for many people.

    Still, everyone, including people with Medicare, are able to get four free rapid at-home tests through the Biden administration. They need only go to  covidtests.gov. They also can get free tests community health centers. This web site has additional information on where to get free Covid-19 tests.

    Medicare covers rapid antigen and PCR testing if performed by a lab at not charge to patients. However, be prepared: In order to get more than one free test a year, you must have a doctor’s order.

    Here’s more from Just Care: