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Tests for the coronavirus are supposed to be free. And, usually, they are. But sometimes … things happen. Here’s how to keep those things from happening to you.
New York Times reporter Sarah Kliff has been asking readers to send in their . She’s now seen hundreds of them, and she ran down for us the most common ways things can go sideways, and how to avoid them.
First off, she said: “I don’t want people to think, ‘Holy crap, I should just not get tested for coronavirus because it’s going to cost me a ton of money.’ You absolutely should. And the odds are that you will not get a surprise bill, and it will cost zero dollars.” Still, if only 2% of people end up with a surprise bill and a million people a day are getting coronavirus tests, that’s a lot of surprise bills, she noted.
Kliff’s top tip is to avoid getting a test in an emergency room, where you might get charged a “facility fee” that your insurance doesn’t cover.
“An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of Kaiser Health News and Public Road Productions.
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