Yesterday the White House stated that President Joe Biden is planning to end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11th.
"People will have to start paying some money for things they didn't have to pay for during the emergency," said Jen Kates, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "That's the main thing people will start to notice."
So what does this mean? This means that Americans will need to start paying for any COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines once the emergencies end. Once the COVID-19 emergencies end, Medicare beneficiaries will have out-of-pocket costs for at-home tests and all treatments but the vaccines will be covered at no cost. For those on state Medicaid programs, they will still have COVID-19 tests ordered by their physician and vaccines at no charge but could expect out-of-pocket costs for any treatments. And then for those with private insurance, they might have charges for lab tests ordered by their provider but the vaccines will be free.
Another change coming to those enrolled in Medicaid is that states will start processing the redeterminations and disenrolling people who no longer qualify for the service starting April 1. For more information on what the changes will be once the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies end on May 11, click here.