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Syracuse, N.Y. – Some uninsured Syracuse-area patients are being charged hundreds of dollars for Covid tests that used to be free.
That’s because federal funding to reimburse providers for tests and other Covid care for the uninsured ran out March 22 after Congress refused to approve more emergency aid to fight the virus.
About 95% of Onondaga County residents under age 65 have health insurance that covers Covid testing with some exceptions.
Demand for testing has waned in Central New York as Covid cases and hospitalizations have dropped significantly. Plenty of home test kits are available free from Onondaga County and the federal government. Major pharmacy chains still offer free PCR tests, considered the most accurate Covid tests, at no cost to the uninsured.
Yet two of the largest Covid testing providers in the Syracuse area – Upstate University Hospital and the Syracuse Community Health Center – are now charging the uninsured for PCR tests.
A health expert is worried the loss of federal funding to test the uninsured could pose a major problem when the next new Covid variant arrives in the community.
Less testing could hurt the community’s ability to quickly identify a new variant, said Christopher Morley, a public health expert at Upstate.
“This virus has proven that once it takes hold in a community things can get very hairy very fast,” he said.
If Covid spikes here again, the lack of free testing would disproportionately hurt low-income disadvantaged people, the population hardest hit earlier in the pandemic, he said.
Currently, Upstate bills uninsured patients $213 for Covid PCR tests. The Syracuse health center and its lab charge $131.50 for PCR tests.
Uninsured, low-income Upstate patients who cannot afford the test can apply for help from hospital’s financial assistance program. The health center offers patients a sliding scale fee discount based on family size and income.
CTC testing at 116 W. Jefferson St. in the Landmark Theater building in downtown Syracuse has also stopped providing free Covid testing to the uninsured because of the loss of federal reimbursement. The storefront clinic now only serves insured patients.
Kinney Drugs store in Bayberry Plaza in Clay. Kinney and some other pharmacy chains are still providing free Covid tests to the uninsured. Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.comRick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com
Walgreens, Kinney Drugs and CVS pharmacy chains still provide Covid testing at no cost to the uninsured.
People who are uninsured who need Covid tests should ask if they will be charged and, if so, what the price is, said Jennifer Tolbert of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a national health policy and research group. “There’s a wide variation in costs for PCR tests,” she said.
An analysis conducted last year by her organization found prices of PCR tests ranged from $23 to $1,419 per diagnostic test at large hospitals nationwide.
Under a federal law passed at the start of the pandemic, health insurers are required to cover Covid tests at no cost to patients. But there are some caveats.
Some commercial plans offered by Excellus and other insurers do not cover tests performed on people without symptoms required by schools, employers, camps and other organizations for surveillance purposes.
The requirement that insurers cover Covid tests at no cost to patients will remain in effect until the national Covid-related public health emergency, declared on Jan. 31, 2020, expires.
The emergency is set to expire July 15, but the Biden administration has said it will extend the deadline another 90 days or longer, Tolbert said.
Once the public health emergency is lifted insurers would be able to make patients pay for part of the costs of Covid tests, vaccines and antiviral medications, Tolbert said.
James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com
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