Impasse halts COVID aid to test, treat uninsured

With an urgent funding request stuck in Congress, a federal agency says it can no longer cover COVID tests and treatments bills for uninsured people and will stop taking claims at midnight Tuesday.

“The lack of funding for COVID-19 needs is having real consequences,” Martin Kramer, a spokesman for the Health Resources and Services Administration, said in a statement. “We have begun an orderly shutdown of the program.”

The Uninsured Program is an early casualty of the budget impasse between Congress and the White House over the Biden administration’s request for an additional $22.5 billion for ongoing COVID response. In operation since the Trump administration, the program reimburses hospitals, clinics, doctors and other service providers for COVID care for uninsured people, whose numbers total about 28 million.

Shutting off the spigot of federal money could create access problems for uninsured people, as well as consequences for the rest of society.

“COVID is a highly infectious disease, so we want people who think they might be sick to get tested and treated, not only for their health but for the community as well,” said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “If uninsured people now hesitate to get care because of the cost, we’ll see more cases and greater inequity.”

Levitt said he also worries vaccine providers could dial back their outreach efforts to uninsured people.

Known as HRSA, the agency running the Uninsured Program receives about 1 million claims a day, and has reimbursed for care for millions of people during the pandemic. The program pays out about $500 million a week in claims, and more than 50,000 service providers have taken advantage of it.