Insurers Receive Orders to Cover Coronavirus Antibody Tests
With the Trump administration anxious to “reopen†the U.S. economy and ease the social-distancing measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19, officials have pointed to antibody testing as a critical tool to accomplish those goals. To that end, the administration on April 11 issued a document clarifying that most private health plans must cover such tests, which detect antibodies against the new coronavirus found in the blood of people who have been infected and now may be immune.
Experts tell AIS Health that the requirement to cover antibody (also known as serological) testing wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it does raise a host of still- unanswered questions, such as how much these tests will cost, how widely available they’ll be, and whether they can be relied upon.