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Free rapid covid testing san diego12/28/2023 ![]() Anyone who tests positive on a rapid test, which is sensitive but less accurate than a PCR test, is instructed to self-isolate to keep from spreading the virus and given a lab-processed PCR test to confirm the diagnosis. Photo: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty ImagesĪs a result of the distribution of free tests, and a public information campaign showing citizens how to use the test kits, the British government reports that about 4 million rapid tests are now being done at home each week in England. But Reuters reports that the British government is paying about $5.80 each for similar test kits (which cost about $2 each to make) that it distributes for free.Ĭovid-19 rapid test kits, like a batch in a shopping area of Birmingham, England, in August, are distributed for free in the United Kingdom. In September, for instance, the Biden administration struck a deal with Walmart, Amazon and Kroger to sell Abbott’s tests at the discount price of $7 each for three months. ![]() ![]() government’s reticence to use emergency powers to get the testing kits made for less contrasts sharply with the situation in Europe, where more efficient government-run health care systems are the norm. Abbott Laboratories’ BinaxNOW kit, for instance, can be purchased by the government for $5 each but costs consumers $11.99 a test at CVS or Walgreens. But because the Biden administration has tried to work within the constraints of America’s profit-driven system, commercially available rapid tests are considerably more expensive for consumers and often hard to find in stores. government to use its leverage to press test-makers to sell the kits for between $1 and $5 each. What Psaki’s comments accidentally drew attention to is that even during a pandemic, Americans are still paying more for health care than their counterparts in countries with socialized medicine or single-payer systems.Įxperts like Mina and Nuzzo have urged the U.S. “Maybe at some point our FDA, CDC and administration will understand finally this is a PUBLIC HEALTH problem, and not a Medical problem to make $$ off of,” Mina tweeted. government should mail rapid tests to every American household, suggested that Psaki’s comments reveal that the administration is unwilling to take emergency measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic that might challenge the nation’s fundamentally for-profit health care system. population tested themselves every four days with at-home rapid kits that could cost the U.S. Chan School of Public Health, estimated more than a year ago that the spread of Covid-19 could be dramatically curtailed if just half of the U.S. Michael Mina, a physician who teaches at the Harvard T.H. “That this appears to be some quixotic idea to the administration is incredibly concerning and a reminder of why we have not been able to get control this pandemic here in the US.” “Give out rapid tests to every household? Yessss! Of course, we should!” Oni Blackstock, a doctor who once led New York City’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, chimed in on Twitter. “Other countries have figured out better ways to get these tools into the hands of their citizens. “Rapid tests are hard to get, expensive & could be a key intervention in fighting #COVID19,” Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at Yale Medical School, wrote in a tweet addressed to Psaki and Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator. “Then what happens if you, if every American has one test? How much does that cost?” Psaki asked, suggesting that sending Americans tests to regularly screen themselves for the virus would be prohibitively expensive. “Should we just send one to every American?” Psaki shot back, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Why not just make ’em free and give ’em out, make them available everywhere?” “That’s kind of complicated, though,” Liasson said. We spent BILLIONS AND BILLIONS on vaccines that we would never consider charging for. Many are ridiculing this dismissive and out of touch take by on Covid tests.īut for me it’s the ‘how much does it cost’ part. had gotten some retailers to lower costs and would soon require private insurance companies to start reimbursing clients who buy rapid tests. In an oddly combative exchange with Mara Liasson of NPR, who asked why the United States chose not to emulate countries like the United Kingdom, which sends packs of seven free rapid tests to anyone who asks for them, the president’s spokesperson first suggested, wrongly, that the tests used in other countries might not work. Public health experts were appalled Monday to hear an idea that many of them consider vital - making at-home rapid antigen tests for Covid-19 free for all Americans - dismissed as ridiculous by President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki. ![]()
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