The Biden administration is looking at options for Medicare users to acquire free COVID-19 testing over-the-counter and at home.
If a client asks for reimbursement, the White House is forcing private insurance companies to cover the cost of eight at-home COVID-19 tests per individual every month.
As a result of the enormous increase in infections caused by the Omicron variant, the requirement was enacted. However, the regulation does not apply to Medicare recipients, and the exclusion of 64 million elderly and disabled Americans has sparked outrage, as per The Hill.
Lawmakers, citizens urge Biden to amend Medicare restrictions
Several Democratic senators and supporters have pressured the administration to amend the restrictions in recent days, but their choices are limited because Medicare does not normally pay home-use diagnostic tests.
Currently, only laboratory-based COVID-19 diagnostic techniques, such as PCR and antigen testing, are covered by standard Medicare. There is no cost to the recipient if the test is ordered by a physician, pharmacist, or "approved health care professional." Officials from Biden's health department have stated that they are working hard to find a solution to the problem.
Thousands of community health centers and Medicare-certified rural health clinics will get 50 million testing kits for distribution to patients and community members. Beneficiaries can also buy four tests per household via the federal website CovidTests.gov, which will be sent by the US Postal Service.
When the Biden administration mandated that insurers cover at-home coronavirus testing, it left out a group of people who are most vulnerable to the virus. Medicare, the government insurance system that covers 64 million elderly and disabled Americans, was left out of the directive, prompting a barrage of criticism.
Medicare should cover at-home testing, says advocates
In recent days, members of Congress and advocates for the elderly have sent vehement letters to President Joe Biden and his health secretary, pressing the government to change Medicare's guidelines so that it will pay for antigen testing performed at home universally.
According to the Seattle Times, hundreds of Medicare beneficiaries have phoned a government hotline to inquire about the tests, since they are unsure of what is covered. Officials in the government are "working around the clock, trying to find out what is viable" under such duress, according to Meena Seshamani, Medicare director at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Advocates argue that the government, which has made it easier for Medicare beneficiaries to visit doctors via telehealth during the pandemic, should also be flexible when it comes to covering at-home testing. Meanwhile, as a consequence of President Joe Biden's administration's order, millions of health-care employees across the United States must now get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The vaccine requirement for Medicare and Medicaid providers was one of several restrictions put on private-sector employers by Biden's administration in an attempt to boost vaccination rates and halt the spread of the coronavirus. By Thursday, health workers in around half of the states had to have received their first dosage of the vaccine, while the remainder will have to fulfill February deadlines. Biden's other high-profile requests have been put on hold.
The Supreme Court struck down a provision that required firms with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis. A lower court recently struck down a mandate that government contractors' workers be vaccinated.
Republican-led states, conservative groups, and some companies fought Biden's multiple vaccination mandates in court. The complaints claimed, among other things, that the regulations exceeded federal executive authority and infringed on states' rights to control public health, as per WFMJ.
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