Update on Federal Mandates to Cover COVID-19 Testing Services: New Guidance for States, Plans, and Insurers

This commentary provides an overview of new guidance from the Departments of Health & Human Services, Labor, and Treasury that attempts to answer questions from states, plans, and insurers on what new federal laws require for coverage of COVID-19 testing services.

As calls have increased for more widespread and frequent testing, particularly of at-risk populations such as health care workers, residents and staff of long-term care facilities, and people potentially exposed at protests or rallies, insurers have questioned their responsibility to cover all testing in all circumstances. State regulators have had to step in, with some requiring insurers to cover, for example, specified workplace-related testing, while others have agreed with insurers that such testing would not be “medically necessary.”