TUESDAY, April 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Health insurers and Medicaid must provide free coverage for tests to detect coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) antibodies in people who have been infected, the federal government says.
Documents dated April 11 explain that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has decided that serology testing for COVID-19 antibodies should be considered an "in vitro diagnostic test" and treated the same as tests to detect the virus itself, CBS News reported.
That means that copays, coinsurance, and deductibles, in or out of network, must be waived for COVID-19 antibody tests.
People with antibodies to the new COVID-19 may have some degree of immunity from reinfection, which means they might be able to safely return to work or school. Widespread testing to identify these people could be crucial in gradually easing lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, CBS News reported.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 589,048 COVID-19 cases and more than 25,000 deaths reported in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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Johns Hopkins University
