Free COVID tests, treatment covered by government end for the uninsured. What to know

For millions of Americans without health insurance, the costs of COVID-19 testing and treatment will no longer get covered.

A need for more money has ended the program allowing the government to pay for uninsured Americans’ COVID-19 tests and treatment, according to the Health Resources & Services Administration. The program was first established under President Donald Trump, The Associated Press reported.

The Uninsured Program stopped accepting and processing such claims on March 22 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, the agency said. Additionally, the costs of COVID-19 vaccines won’t get covered under the program as of April 5 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.

“Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, labs, and other healthcare providers will no longer be reimbursed for tests, treatments, and vaccinations for people without health insurance,” one senior White House official said March 15.

Millions of U.S. citizens have been reimbursed for costs under the Uninsured Program since the virus spread around the world, according to The Associated Press. The program gets about 1 million claims everyday.

The median cost of COVID-19 testing is $127, and it can be as expensive as $850, an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found, according to Johns Hopkins.

The Uninsured Program would often reimburse uninsured Americans at Medicare rates, according to HRSA. Medicare reimburses tests at $51 or $100, according to Johns Hopkins.

If someone uninsured gets hospitalized with COVID-19, they could pay roughly $42,486 to $74,310, according to CNBC.

White House officials said they’ve warned Congress for months that “the funding for tests, treatments, and vaccines was drying up and that additional funds would be needed.”

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has called for Congress to immediately approve $22.5 billion in emergency funds to keep up the battle against COVID-19.

If more COVID-19 relief funds aren’t granted by Congress, there will be “severe consequences as we will not be equipped to deal with a future surge,” the White House warned March 15.

“Inaction will set us back in this fight, leave us less prepared, and cost us more lives.”

In the U.S., COVID-19 cases are continuing to go down as of March 16, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The BA.2 omicron subvariant now makes up 1 in 3 COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as some areas of Europe and Asia are experiencing another spike in virus cases, Reuters reported.

Other “consequences” from a lack of COVID-19 funding include not being able to secure enough booster vaccine doses and additional monoclonal antibody treatments, according to the White House.

“We are putting at risk the extraordinary progress we’ve made in combating COVID if we fail to fund our continued #COVID19 preparedness and response,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy wrote March 22 on Twitter.

This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Free COVID tests, treatment covered by government end for the uninsured. What to know."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.