How to get insurance to pay for at-home COVID tests, according to the White House

A health worker is going to give out at- home COVID-19 test kits. Private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for those on their plans starting Saturday.

David Dermer.

The Biden Administration has new information on how Americans can get free COVID-19 tests. The White House made an announcement last month.

The White House has announced a new policy that will allow people covered by a health insurance plan to purchase a COVID-19 test that has been approved by the FDA.

White House officials say that insurance companies and health plans will have to cover eight free at- home tests per month. A family of four with the same health plan would be able to get up to 32 of these tests per month.

Insurers and group health plans are required to make tests free for millions of Americans. The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary said in a news release Monday that this is part of the strategy to ramp up access to easy-to-use, at- home tests.

During Monday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the administration will start to have free COVID tests "out the door in the coming weeks."

The first of the significant amounts will be arriving early next week, according to Psaki.

We expect to have more information on the website and hotline later this week.

My administration announced today that health insurers will be required to cover the cost of at- home COVID testing kits.
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January 10, 2022.

The Biden administration says it is incentives for insurers and group health plans to set up programs that will allow Americans to get the over-the-counter tests directly through preferred pharmacy, retailers or other entities with no out-of-pocket costs.

The Biden administration said there will not be a limit on the number of tests that are covered.

State Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program must cover FDA-authorized at- home COVID-19 tests without cost-sharing.

Americans who are covered by Medicare already have their COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed by a laboratory, such as PCR and antigen tests, "with no beneficiary cost-sharing when the test is ordered by either a physician, non-physician practitioners, or other authorized health care professional," according to the

State Medicaid and CHIP programs must cover all FDA-authorized COVID-19 tests without cost-sharing, according to guidance issued by the Biden administration last year.