The administration has changed some Medicare rules during the pandemic, including improving access to telehealth services and nursing home care, said David Lipschutz, associate director and senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy. The Medicare program does cover rapid antigen or PCR testing done by a lab without charging beneficiaries, but there's a hitch: It's limited to one test per year unless someone has a doctor's order.
#Rapid covid testing free
Medicare patients are left to seek free tests other ways, including through the administration's new website,, and at community centers. Medicaid and CHIP cover at-home COVID tests, with no cost to beneficiaries, based on a 2021 Biden administration mandate. "While at this time original Medicare cannot pay for at-home tests, testing remains a critical tool to help mitigate the spread of COVID," a statement from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said. It turns out that the laws governing traditional Medicare don't provide for coverage of self-administered diagnostic tests, which is precisely what the rapid antigen tests are and why they are an important tool for containing the pandemic. 15, private insurers will cover the cost of eight at-home rapid COVID tests each month for their members - for as long as the public health emergency lasts.įinding the tests will be hard enough, but Medicare beneficiaries face an even bigger hurdle: The administration's new rule doesn't apply to them. And who will have an especially tough time getting free at-home COVID tests under the Biden administration's plan? Yes, seniors.Īs of Jan. What group is especially vulnerable to the ravages of COVID-19 even if fully vaccinated and boosted? Seniors.
There are several ways older adults can get free rapid antigen tests, but Medicare will not reimburse them when they purchase them.
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