COVID At-Home Tests
Estate Planning Attorney Joseph Hudack knows that if you have Medicare, you can receive up to eight free rapid “COVID At-Home Tests” monthly at participating pharmacies. The free tests are available without a prescription to all Medicare beneficiaries with Part B, including those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. If you only have Medicare Part A, Medicare won’t cover the cost.
To get the tests, you can visit one of the pharmacies participating in the program. You do not have to be a current customer of the pharmacy in order to receive the tests, and Medicare Advantage plan enrollees may use an out-of-network pharmacy. You should bring your red, white, and blue Medicare card (even if you have a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D plan), but the pharmacy may be able to get the information it needs to bill Medicare without the card.
Unlike private insurance, there is no upfront cost for the tests. As long as you do not order more than eight tests in a calendar month, you will not pay anything. Note that tests are often packaged with two in each box, so eight tests may not mean eight boxes. If you pay for a test yourself, Medicare will not reimburse you. Medicare enrollees who order tests from covidtests.gov do not need to count those tests against Medicare’s eight-test-per-month limit.
When the Biden administration originally announced it required private insurers to reimburse the cost of up to eight rapid at-home Covid tests a month purchased at retail stores and pharmacies, this news left out the nation’s 62 million Medicare beneficiaries – seniors and people with disabilities who are at the highest risk of death from Covid-19. If paid for out-of-pocket, tests typically cost more than $20 for a package of two, which can discourage many Americans from getting tested.
The problem in the case of tests for Medicare beneficiaries, the federal program’s rules did not permit coverage of over-the-counter tests. Amid pressure from Congress and advocacy groups, officials scrambled to find a regulatory workaround.
Ask an Estate Planning Attorney Today
For more information go to Hudack Law Estate Planning Attorney and areas of service. We are proudly serving California and Arizona, please call our California line at (877) 314-4309 or our Arizona line at (602) 777-7882.
