Medicare announced a new initiative that will cover up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests each calendar month, at no cost to you. The initiative started on April 4, 2022, and continues until the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends.
Medicare will cover these tests if you have Medicare Part B, including those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.
This means that Blue Advantage members will have these tests covered by Medicare, not through their Blue Advantage plan's coverage.
You can get over-the-counter COVID-19 tests at any pharmacy or health care provider that participates in this initiative. Check with your pharmacy or health care provider to see if they are participating. If so, they can provide your tests and will bill Medicare on your behalf.
A partial list of participating pharmacies can be found at https://www.medicare.gov/medicare-coronavirus.
It is very important that you bring your red, white and blue Medicare card, not your Blue Advantage member ID card, to get your free tests. If you don't bring your Medicare card, the pharmacy may be able to get the information it needs to bill Medicare without the card.
You don't need to change pharmacies to get your free over-the-counter COVID-19 tests. You can get them from any eligible pharmacy or health care provider participating in this initiative, even if you aren't a current customer or patient. Getting your tests won't affect any prescriptions you have in place.
Once you've gotten eight tests within the current calendar month under this initiative, you will need to wait until the beginning of the next calendar month to get more tests. Note that there can be multiple tests per box, so eight tests may come in fewer than eight boxes.
You can also:
- Order up to two sets of four at-home tests per household by visiting covidtests.gov.
- Get no-cost COVID-19 tests through health care providers at over 20,000 testing sites nationwide.
- Get PCR tests and antigen tests through a lab at no cost when a doctor or other health care professional orders it for you.
- During the COVID-19 PHE, get one lab-performed test without a health care professional's order, at no cost.
Call 1-800-Medicare (1-800-633-4227) with any questions about this initiative. TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048.