Insurers Balk at Idea of Covering Unlimited At-Home COVID Tests

Dec 10
Dec 10, 2021

Recently, the Biden administration unveiled a plan to curb COVID-19 infections that promises forthcoming guidance “to clarify that individuals who purchase OTC [over the counter] COVID-19 diagnostic tests will be able to seek reimbursement from their group health plan or health insurance issuer and have insurance cover the cost during the public health emergency.”

Health insurers and health care policy researchers have a bevy of questions and concerns about this plan — and at least one public health expert has floated a different approach.
Read more
© 2025 MMIT

Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.