Although open enrollment has ended in the current period for health insurance, are you prepared for premiums to rise next year? After the White House revealed a new policy that requires insurers to cover eight COVID-19 testing, it seems like this is the likely outcome. One month.
With the administration failing at its promise to start sending out tests to every home at the beginning of January, this latest move is an obvious attempt to buy a political win, but it’s your money they are using.
COVID-19 testing update: Today’s announcement by our administration states that, beginning in January 2022, people who are covered under a plan of insurance and have purchased an FDA-approved COVID-19 over-the counter diagnostic test, will be covered.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 10, 2022
Although there are numerous issues to this issue, all come down ultimately to the absolute inutility of this order. Eight COVID-19 test per month is a lot. Even if you get the coronavirus, you aren’t symptomatic for that long outside of the most extreme cases, at which point, you’re going to the hospital anyway.
It doesn’t make sense that someone would randomly try to test for the virus twice per week, claiming they are self-quarantining in case of positive results. Asymptomatic people either don’t spread the virus at all or do so at an extremely low rate based on the information we currently have. The final factor in all tests should be: Are they symptomatic or not? If they aren’t, it’s incredibly wasteful to be randomly testing.
What this boils down to, aside from Biden trying to “do something” to bring up his cratering approval ratings, is a giveaway to far-left, government-created hypochondriacs who feel like they need to test every time they come into contact with another person. He’s trying to pacify a group of hysterics who can never be pacified while accomplishing nothing of value. It is not a good idea to find out that a lot of people are suffering from asymptomatic infection. Living with the virus is a tale of absurdity. You don’t randomly test for the flu for a reason.
It’s also worth mentioning that with the shortage of tests, it’s unlikely someone will be able to actually find eight tests a month, at least during the current period. Still, if the order doesn’t quickly expire, it will lead to hoarding of “free” tests throughout the year that ultimately raise the costs on insurers. That cost will then be passed onto you via next year’s premiums.
The last problem here is that there’s no end-game. What happens when there’s a seasonal spike starting in the summer through the winter, burning through different regions of the country? Do we encourage the continued use of asymptomatic tests? Are we just trying to make the midterms go by?
The answer is that there’s probably no plan here at all. Biden’s aimlessness is a desperate attempt to throw things at the wall in hopes that something will stick enough to save him political bacon. But, most people are fed up with it, even those who don’t live in blue areas. They don’t want to see their health premiums go up again so that mentally ill people in New York who lack all ability to judge risk can stock their shelves with unreliable COVID-19 rapid tests.
A real leader — which Biden is decidedly not — would make things simple: If you are sick, go to the doctor.
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