With the prices of coronavirus vaccines expected to increase on the commercial market, the shots could eventually become less accessible to people without insurance.
Mandy Alderman, whose difficulty getting care for COVID-19 has become an increasingly common problem for poor, uninsured Americans, in Lawrenceville, Ga., Nov. 13, 2022.
The Biden administration is asking Congress to replenish its coffers, but its pleas to lawmakers this year have so far been unsuccessful. Warning about the threat of new subvariants as winter approaches, the White House asked Congress last month for more than $9 billion in additional funding for the pandemic response. Some of that money would go toward ensuring that Americans, including those without insurance, continue to have access to vaccines and treatments.
“Because of COVID, we’ve been able to temporarily create a bright spot for care,” said Kody H. Kinsley, the top health official in North Carolina, one of the states that has not expanded Medicaid. He added, “That island is slowly vanishing.” Roughly 50,000 coronavirus cases — a figure that is almost certainly a significant undercount — are being reported in the United States each day, and people without insurance can face an array of costs. Bills for tests can be large and unpredictable; some people have faced charges of more than $3,000 for the routine nasal swab. For those who become seriously ill, a hospitalization can cost more than $1 million.
The Biden administration has proposed a new program called Vaccines for Adults that is modeled after a federal program that provides vaccines to children at no cost. If funded by Congress, the program would supply coronavirus shots and other vaccines while reimbursing providers for administration fees.
But then Lund lost his own health insurance when he switched jobs and had to wait for his new benefits to kick in. With a fever and a runny nose in January, he suddenly needed a test at Mayo. A surprise bill arrived in May: $520 for the nasal swab.
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