At-home COVID testing kits; cost to be covered by health plans
MILWAUKEE - The need for at-home COVID-19 tests is as high as it has ever been. Now starting Saturday, Jan. 15, insurance companies and health plans will be required to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests.
Americans will be able to get eight free at-home testing kits a month under private insurance. But as the omicron variant spreads rapidly, getting a test is not always easy.
UW Health is recommending anyone with symptoms who cannot get their hands on a test to isolate.
"Act as if you have COVID-19, find that room where you can isolate, have other people bring you things until the time and place where you can get that test done," said Dr. Jeff Pothof, UW Health Chief Quality Officer.
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Health officials say it is worth getting tested within the first three days of symptoms. But if it is longer and testing is still unavailable, doctors instead recommend a home-based antigen test.
"If it’s 2-4 days out since your symptoms started and you still haven’t been able to get a test, the utility of testing starts to go down because you’ve already been isolating for the bulk of the time that you can actually transmit the disease to other people," Pothof said.
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Pharmacies and retailers are preparing for the plan. CVS officials said they are "reviewing the guidance plan to adjust our coverage policies as appropriate."
The federal government plans to launch a website later in January – making 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests available by mail.
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