PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — People without insurance will soon have to pay for their own COVID-19 treatment and testing unless Congress approves more money, fast.
Next Tuesday, March 22, the COVID-19 Uninsured Program will stop accepting claims for testing and treatment. On April 5, it will also stop accepting vaccination claims.
“My biggest fear is once this information gets out into the community, it will affect the hesitant population and they will say, ‘well I don’t want to pay for it,'” Celebrate Healthcare LLC President Gaylene Kanoyton told WAVY.
According to the White House, Congress must allocate $22.5 billion in immediate emergency funding to continue these services.
Sen. Time Kaine (D-Va.) says Democrats support additional funding.
“We need to do it because we certainly can’t take for granted that this is all in the rearview mirror. If you look at caseloads in England caseloads in Germany, caseloads in China, you would see that there are surges taking place in some parts of the world,” he said.
But how many people really need it? Technically, no one in Virginia should be without insurance.
“If they can’t get into the affordable care, if their workplace doesn’t offer any insurance, then they can go into Medicaid because it’s been expanded,” Kanoyton said.
Still, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation numbers, 6.3% of Virginians remain uninsured.
Sen. Mark Warner’s (D-Va.) office told 10 On Your Side, “During this transition, Sen. Warner’s office is going to keep working with local officials to ensure that Virginians know where to go for free testing and vaccines. Since the onset of the pandemic, Sen. Warner has consistently pushed for access to testing and vaccines in order to get kids back to school and folks back to work. He has also worked for years to reduce the number of uninsured Virginians, and has introduced legislation to help counter the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on uninsured people across the country.”
A spokesperson for Congresswoman Elaine Luria (D-Norfolk) also released a statement:
“Congress is working on supplemental funding for these COVID related needs and Rep Luria, who has supported prior COVID spending, will continue to work on getting the resources needed to get past this public health crisis.”
Kanoyton said Celebrate Healthcare will continue to work with local hospitals, churches and other groups to provide free vaccines and testing through donations.