WASHINGTON _ Meeting with health insurance CEOs at the White House on Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence said that the executives had all committed to ensure "no surprise billing" for coronavirus testing as it continues to spread.
"All the insurance companies here _ either today or before today _ have agreed to waive all copays on coronavirus testing and extend coverage for coronavirus treatment in all of their benefit plans," Pence said alongside President Donald Trump at the White House, noting that Medicare and Medicaid recipients would also receive full coverage. "We want people to get tested."
Over 1 million tests have been dispensed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to over 80 public labs across all 50 states, Pence said, adding that 4 million more would be sent out over the course of the week.
Private companies, such as LabCorp and Quest, are producing tests of their own that could detect COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Tests conducted in private doctor offices, hospitals and labs do not currently have to be reported back to the federal government, complicating its ability to track testing rates nationwide.
The White House task force on the coronavirus said it is building an IT connectivity system that will allow it to better track testing going forward, as testing becomes more widely available.
State and local officials have lamented a lack of access to testing kits in recent days as the number of diagnosed cases has risen, widening potential exposure.
Pence said that testing is now available "in all state labs in every state in the country."
The CDC is working to "bring that test closer and closer and closer to the patient and to the bedside," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Monday.
"Hundreds of thousands of those tests are in hospitals, in private labs, in commercial labs," Azar said. "We now have a total of 2.1 million tests that are available, either shipped or waiting to be shipped or waiting to be ordered."
