Doctors and other health-care providers have lost the ability to get reimbursed for testing and treating uninsured patients for COVID-19, the federal government has announced.
The Biden administration’s COVID-19 reimbursement fund, which previously covered as many as 31.2 million uninsured Americans, has been crippled by a “lack of sufficient funds,” according to The New York Times.
The federal Health Resources and Services Administration stopped taking claims for the uninsured last Wednesday (March 23). The agency has also said that it will run out of funds for vaccine claims in two weeks. Uncovered or undercovered patients may now be charged up to $195 for a SARS-CoV-2 test.
The federal COVID-19 response at large has been in limbo since Republicans in Congress blocked $22.5 billion in “emergency” aid requested by the White House.