Providers offering free COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatment for uninsured Alaskans may need to pivot as federal reimbursement ends. What does that look like? Closing some test sites, and potentially charging those without insurance $85 to $125 per test:
Angel Libby prepares to administer a COVID-19 test at Capstone Clinic's drive-thru testing site at 4810 C St. in Anchorage on Jan. 8, 2022. The testing site is one of two in Anchorage that Capstone plans to close April 16, 2022.
Over the course of the pandemic, Alaska providers have been reimbursed over $27 million for testing, $7.6 million for treatment and nearly $500,000 for COVID-19 vaccines through the program, according toWhile Alaska’s COVID-19 cases appear to have leveled off in recent weeks after an omicron-driven surge this winter, the state’s seven-day per capita case rate is, and the threat of future variants and surges still looms on the horizon.
So far, Fairweather also has no immediate plans to close either of their sites or charge uninsured Alaskans for testing, but “the money is drying up,” Green said, adding that uncertainty about whether Congress or the federal government intends to restore any of those funds makes it hard to know for sure what will happen.
He said the company would keep its testing sites in Anchorage open until mid-April despite the financial loss. Spencer said Capstone will likely have to come to a decision within the next two weeks about what the impact is going to be on the clinic’s bottom line, and whether it’d need to start charging a fee — likely around $85 per test — for people without insurance.
In recent months, the federal government has shifted away from PCR tests to rapid, over-the-counter tests, which have less overhead costs associated with processing test samples but still can still be costly for individuals. She said the impacts have varied broadly by provider — many smaller health clinics have been regularly billing insurance because they already know most of their patients and have their insurance information on record. The biggest challenge could be for the larger drive-up testing sites, like Capstone’s, which don’t have patient insurance information on file.
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