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Medicare won’t reimburse your rapid at-home COVID-19 tests

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Despite senior citizens and people with disabilities being especially at-risk for contracting COVID-19, those who have Medicare for health insurance cannot get reimbursed for buying over-the-counter COVID-19 tests.

The Biden Administration recently announced that starting this month, people with private health insurance coverage or who are covered by a group health plan and purchase an over-the-counter COVID-19 diagnostic test approved by the FDA would be able to have those tests costs covered by their insurance.

However, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says, "at this time, original Medicare cannot pay for at-home tests through this program."

It’s a bit unclear why, but regardless of the pandemic, medicare doesn’t typically cover over-the-counter products.

"Medicare also isn't set up to reimburse enrollees directly for costs,” said Natalie Kean, Senior Staff Attorney for Justice in Aging.

Justice in Aging is a national non-profit legal advocacy organization that fights senior poverty through law. The nonprofit recently sent a letter with 60 other groups to the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, urging Secretary Xavier Becerra to make Medicare reimburse tests, especially since many on medicare are on a fixed income.

“About half of people on Medicare have incomes somewhere around $26,000 a year or less," said Kean. "So, paying ten or $20 a week for over-the-counter tests just really isn't feasible.”

And just last week, a group of more than 100 lawmakers penned a bipartisan letter to HHS for the same reason. Their effort has been backed by the Medicare Rights Center and the Center for Medicare Advocacy. 

In the letter, the lawmakers also wrote:

"We encourage the Department to consider options such as additional clinics in rural, suburban, and other underserved areas with less accessible existing testing options, a telephone hotline to order free at-home tests to complement the website the administration created, and support for locally led efforts to provide at-home testing to Medicare beneficiaries at no cost."

Since their letter, the government has opened a phone line for people who don't have access to a computer to order tests at covidtests.gov. You can now call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489) to get help in English, Spanish, and more than 150 other languages – 8 a.m. to midnight ET, 7 days a week.

"Older adults and people with disabilities are much less likely to have access to the internet," said Kean. "So we're we're grateful to see the hotline launched.”

There are other options for those on Medicare to get tested as well. HHS says it's providing up to 50 million free at-home tests to community health centers and Medicare-certified health clinics for distribution at no cost to patients and community members.

Medicare also pays for COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed by a laboratory, such as PCR and antigen tests, with no cost to the patient, when the test is ordered by a physician, non-physician practitioner, pharmacist, or other authorized health care professional.

If you pay for Medicare Supplemental Insurance, you are covered for the tests, and if you have Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) -- you can get reimbursed, too.

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Mallory Anderson

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