Beginning Wednesday, Jan. 19, every Alabama household can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government.
Those households will not be charged for the tests or shipping, and orders are to begin being taken on Wednesday by visiting the website at COVIDTests.gov. Tests are expected to ship within 7-12 days of being ordered.
“The administration is quickly completing a contracting process for this unprecedented purchase of 500 million at-home rapid tests, with over 420 million tests already under contract,” a senior administration official told reporters on Friday, CNN reported. “All paths interactive through this program will be rapid at-home tests that have been granted an emergency use authorization by the FDA. Half a billion tests will be available for order on January 19.”
In a separate plan, Americans with health insurance can now get up to eight at-home COVID tests per month and make a claim with the insurance provider to be reimbursed.
“We are requiring insurers and group health plans to make tests free for millions of Americans. This is all part of our overall strategy to ramp-up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests at no cost,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, in a statement.
To check if a test is eligible, check here for a list of approved rapid antigen-based tests and here for molecular-based, or PCR, tests.
