The Biden administration on Monday issued guidance that will require private health insurers to reimburse people for up to eight over-the-counter Covid-19 tests every month beginning Jan. 15.
Under the plan, private insurers can set up programs at preferred pharmacies or retailers where the upfront cost of home tests is covered for beneficiaries. A family of four would be able to have 32 home tests covered by their health plan each month.
The initiative is intended to ease the financial burden of utilizing at-home tests to detect and stop further spread of Covid-19. The more-transmissible Omicron variant of the virus is driving more than 668,000 infections per day, according to CDC data.
But public health experts warn that number is a vast undercount in part because results from millions of at-home tests are not being reported to state and local health departments.
“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,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
Individuals who purchase home tests outside of their insurers’ preferred network must be reimbursed up to $12 per test, but plans can "provide more generous reimbursement up to the actual price of" more pricey tests, according to the guidance. Still, that could create problems for consumers who don't live near participating pharmacies or who purchase pricier home tests like Detect’s at-home molecular test, which costs $75 for a test and the reusable hub.
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