CVS Rapid Antigen - Free?

[llarsen]

Hi,

 

I just saw that a CVS in a nearby city offers Rapid Antigen tests as well as the PCR.

Has anyone used CVS for a Rapid Antigen test and know if they are free (like the PCR tests?) 

 

Thanks!

[Rudyard]

Our rapid antigen test was free at CVS back in October. They took our insurance info so I'm sure they billed them, but I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. 

[chocolate melting cake]

44 minutes ago, Rudyard said:

Our rapid antigen test was free at CVS back in October. They took our insurance info so I'm sure they billed them, but I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. 

Ditto----we had made an appointment online and they took our insurance info. A hint if you plan on doing this--they required a photocopy of the insurance card, we hurriedly did it while online, but had we known it would have been easier to have it prepared,

[tallnthensome]

I suggest reading the covid testing thread at the top of the forum as this has been discussed over and over already ......

[Bgcruising]

3 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

I suggest reading the covid testing thread at the top of the forum as this has been discussed over and over already ......

Everything on this site has been discussed over and over and over again. What's your point?

[tallnthensome]

Just now, Bgcruising said:

Everything on this site has been discussed over and over and over again. What's your point?

The point is there is a thread placed at the top of the forum by the mods for covid testing discussion. What's hard to understand? What does the cost of covid testing at CVS pharmacy have to do with Carnival Cruise Line anyhow? 

[llarsen]

32 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

The point is there is a thread placed at the top of the forum by the mods for covid testing discussion. What's hard to understand? What does the cost of covid testing at CVS pharmacy have to do with Carnival Cruise Line anyhow? 

It doesn't. I was just wondering if fellow passengers have done the Rapid Test at CVS and if it was free. If you don't like the question...skip over it! 

[llarsen]

Thanks everyone. I had called CVS pharmacy to ask if there was a charge for this type of test, but they didn't know if I would be covered by my insurance or not, if I did not have symptoms.

 

I will give it a try...

[hurricane0226]

27 minutes ago, llarsen said:

Thanks everyone. I had called CVS pharmacy to ask if there was a charge for this type of test, but they didn't know if I would be covered by my insurance or not, if I did not have symptoms.

 

I will give it a try...

You should be fine, just give them your ins. information, no out of pocket money, we done ours

in Nov for a Thanksgiving cruise, will do another in January for our next cruise.

[GTO-Girl]

We had appointments at our local CVS pharmacy who without warning cancelled our appointments the night before we needed them!!

 

Now, to eliminate that kind of stress, we just do the home proctored test and have the results in less than 5 min.

[Elaine5715]

3 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

We had appointments at our local CVS pharmacy who without warning cancelled our appointments the night before we needed them!!

 

Now, to eliminate that kind of stress, we just do the home proctored test and have the results in less than 5 min.

With the stories about tests with missing items, dropping videos, languages issues, the self tests give me the sweats

[GTO-Girl]

1 minute ago, Elaine5715 said:

With the stories about tests with missing items, dropping videos, languages issues, the self tests give me the sweats

we have done it three times now.  
 

Our kits have been intact, we have strong WiFi at home so no dropped videos and even though there may be a language issue the directions they are speaking to you are printed on the screen as they are reading it so you know exactly what to do.

 

We will are about to use the kits again in a couple of weeks…

[Pellaz]

10 hours ago, llarsen said:

Thanks everyone. I had called CVS pharmacy to ask if there was a charge for this type of test, but they didn't know if I would be covered by my insurance or not, if I did not have symptoms.

 

I will give it a try...

 

According to the CARES Act (and CVS' information), the PCR and rapid antigen tests there are free.  If you have insurance, they will accept that and bill your insurance company.  

If you do not have insurance, they will ask you for identification information, but the cost of the test is covered by the government.  CVS' test info on their website (FAQs) should cover this info.  

 

7 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

We had appointments at our local CVS pharmacy who without warning cancelled our appointments the night before we needed them!!

 

Now, to eliminate that kind of stress, we just do the home proctored test and have the results in less than 5 min.

 

I didn't take any chances with this.  Having heard of surprise cancellations here on CruiseCritic, I scheduled two tests, one at CVS and another at Walgreen's later that day.  CVS came through, so I cancelled the Walgreen's test via their website.  

 

Alas, the at-home test kits are not currently covered by existing law.

[mondello]

8 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

We had appointments at our local CVS pharmacy who without warning cancelled our appointments the night before we needed them!!

 

Now, to eliminate that kind of stress, we just do the home proctored test and have the results in less than 5 min.

Yeah, I think those cancellations will increase with this omicron surge. More contagious even though less deadly, definitely increasing demand for tests.

[Jasonsterling]

11 hours ago, llarsen said:

Thanks everyone. I had called CVS pharmacy to ask if there was a charge for this type of test, but they didn't know if I would be covered by my insurance or not, if I did not have symptoms.

 

I will give it a try...

It is definitely covered. The Federal government passed a mandate that requires insurance companies to pay for the test. If you have no insurance then the Federal government covers the cost from a fund set up for it. I did it in August at CVS and it was free. Anyplace that's charging for the test, like a minor emergency clinic, is essentially charging a convenience fee on top of what the government or insurance is paying.   

[mondello]

3 minutes ago, Jasonsterling said:

It is definitely covered. The Federal government passed a mandate that requires insurance companies to pay for the test. If you have no insurance then the Federal government covers the cost from a fund set up for it. I did it in August at CVS and it was free. Anyplace that's charging for the test, like a minor emergency clinic, is essentially charging a convenience fee on top of what the government or insurance is paying.   

I was just checking for testing at MIA and FLL airports. They definitely charge and FLL site says insurance does not cover testing for travel. I wouldn't put it past them to charge people and request insurance info so they can double bill. We have the BinaxNow kits for next week. Flying to FLL Christmas Eve and cruise on 12/26. Don't want to test at home after midnight with a morning flight. We can test at our hotel in Miami with the proctored tests. Wondering if we need a backup plan? All this is contingent on Spirit Air getting us to FLL after their summer meltdown.

[llarsen]

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

I also have BinaxNow tests left over from June and Nov trips. I checked the expiration dates (which they now say "the FDA has granted a 3 month expiration extension to all lots" 

 

Our cruise departs Long Beach CA on Jan 4, 2022.

 

It's kind of confusing because the test expiration date on one package is 9/19/21, but the lot date is 1/12/21. 3 months from the lot expiration would make it good until April 12, 2022...but 3 months from the test expiration is Dec 19, 202. The card I have specifically says "3 month extension on all lots". 

 

Even though we do not have a local CVS that offers Rapid Antigen, it might be worth driving a little further to a CVS that offers it, to have peace of mind. 

 

[llarsen]

This is the card that came with my tests.

[mondello]

Our kits were free at our local library and came with an expiration date of 11/05/2021. Perfect for our 12/26 cruise, with the stated 90 day extension.

[vamartha]

I've sailed twice using CVS for my testing. I did have to provide insurance information (their Covid 19/testing/MinuteClinic specific website says that the Federal Government pays if you are uninsured, insurance is billed if you are insured). But neither time did I have to pay. And it worked well for us. We don't have drive through, we have to go into a little shed type building they have in the parking lot and its in a little bitty college town. My biggest preference for CVS is that you can schedule 13 days out.

[jsglow]

1 hour ago, vamartha said:

I've sailed twice using CVS for my testing. I did have to provide insurance information (their Covid 19/testing/MinuteClinic specific website says that the Federal Government pays if you are uninsured, insurance is billed if you are insured). But neither time did I have to pay. And it worked well for us. We don't have drive through, we have to go into a little shed type building they have in the parking lot and its in a little bitty college town. My biggest preference for CVS is that you can schedule 13 days out.

We've tested the same way four times now since August.  All good.