As federal funding for COVID-19 aid continues to stall in Congress, uninsured Americans might soon need to start paying for COVID tests previously covered by the government.
Quest Diagnostics, one the largest testing providers in the country, said last week that patients not on Medicare, Medicaid or private health insurance will be charged $125 for a PCR test going forward, as first reported by ABC News on Friday.
The company was previously able to reimburse clients and patients for uninsured claims, but said it can no longer do so without new funding from Congress. Its QuestDirect PCR tests are sold online and at several major retailers like Walmart.
It remains unclear whether other major retailers like CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid will be forced to make similar decisions, though they have acknowledged access to COVID care will be disrupted without new funding, according to ABC News.
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has been pushing for the government to pass legislation that dedicates more aid to COVID, writing letters to both the White House and Congress.
“Any premature lapse in funding that splinters care access threatens to disintegrate the robust, equity-driven COVID-19 pandemic response that has so far saved more than a million lives,” the advocacy group wrote in recent letters to the Biden Administration and Congress.
More than 31 million Americans did not have access to health insurance in the first half of 2021, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a lot of people who would have to pay $125 each time they need a test. It’s awful timing, with signs mounting that another COVID wave could be just around the corner.
The Biden Administration’s push for more funding
White House officials have been warning for weeks that the ramifications of a lack of federal funding will be widespread.
Last week, as news broke that a second COVID booster shot may soon be approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the White House said it won’t be able to pay for enough doses to vaccinate the country.
“Right now, we don’t have enough money for fourth doses, if they’re called for. We don’t have the funding, if we were to need a variant-specific vaccine in the future,” said White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients in a podcast.
Earlier this month, Congress stalled on passing a proposed $15 billion in emergency funding to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
BA.2 cases on the rise in the U.S.
Meanwhile, U.S. cities and states have been scaling back indoor mask mandates and vaccine requirements just as the BA.2 Omicron subvariant has been spreading rapidly throughout the country.
BA.2, which is 50% more transmissible than the original Omicron strain, accounted for more than 34% of total cases in the U.S. as of March 19, up from 22% the week before, according to the most recent CDC data.
But optimism remains that although BA.2 cases are on the rise, it won’t lead to another surge in hospitalizations or deaths. Though it is more transmissible, BA.2 does not cause more severe illness, evade vaccinations, or cause earlier infection, according to White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci.
A big question remains: will millions of Americans carry the BA.2 subvariant and go without testing, just because they want to save a few dollars—and because Congress can’t find more funding?