A Democratic congresswoman pressed the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into making coronavirus diagnostic testing free for all.
Rep. Katie Porter of California explained how expensive hospital visits can be to people without insurance during Robert Redfield’s testimony in front of Congress on Thursday. She did so by asking Redfield how much different procedures cost while then providing him with the answers.
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“We live in a world where 40% of Americans can not even afford a $400 unexpected expense,” the congresswoman said while doing math on a handheld whiteboard. “We live in a world where 33% of Americans put off medical treatment last year, and we have a $1,331 expense, conservatively, just for testing for the coronavirus.”
Porter later directed Redfield to a series of CDC regulation codes that would allow him to “authorize payment for the care and treatment of individuals subject to medical exam quarantine, isolation, and conditional release.” She then asked if he would make testing “free to every American regardless of insurance?”
She continued to press him to make the testing free until he ultimately relented.
“Excellent,” Porter responded. “Everybody in America, hear that. You are eligible to go get tested for coronavirus and have that covered regardless of insurance.”
Coronavirus testing in the United States has been a cause for concern. The U.S. is testing, on average, fewer than 100 per day, according to Yahoo News, even though the illness has infected more than 1,300 people in the U.S. and led to approximately three dozen deaths.
