The Biden administration says testing is an important tool to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Public health experts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend Americans use at-home tests if they begin to have symptoms, at least five days after coming in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 or are gathering indoors with a group of people who are at risk of severe disease or unvaccinated.

To help ensure Americans have tests on hand if a need arises, the Biden administration is purchasing one billion at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests to give to Americans for free. A half-billion tests will be available for order Jan. 19 and will be mailed directly to American households.

There will be free tests available for every household and to promote broad access, the initial program will allow four free tests to be requested per residential address. Starting Jan. 19, Americans will be able to order their tests online at COVIDTests.gov and tests will typically ship within 7-12 days of ordering.

To ensure equity and access for all Americans, the administration will also launch a call line to help those unable to access the website to place orders and work with national and local community-based organizations to support the nation’s hardest-hit and highest-risk communities in requesting tests.

In addition to this new program, there are many other options for Americans to get tested. There are now over 20,000 free testing sites across the nation, including four times as many pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy free testing program as there were in January 2021, as well as federal surge free testing sites, with more free testing sites opening each week.

In addition, the administration provided schools $10 billion in American Rescue Plan funding to get tests to K-12 school districts. And the administration invested nearly $6 billion in ARP funding to cover free testing for uninsured individuals and support testing in correctional facilities, shelters for people experiencing homelessness, and mental health facilities.

As of Jan. 15, private health insurance companies are required to cover at-home COVID-19 tests for free – and made an additional 10 million COVID-19 tests available to schools nationwide, each month. This means consumers with private health insurance coverage will be able to get these tests for free. Insurance companies and health plans are required to cover eight free at-home tests per covered individual per month. That means a family of four, all on the same plan, would be able to get 32 of these tests covered by their health plan per month. As part of the requirement, the administration is strongly incentivizing plans and insurers to allow people to get these tests directly through preferred pharmacies or retailers with no out-of-pocket costs, with the plan or insurer covering the cost upfront, eliminating the need for people to submit reimbursement claims.

The Department of Defense, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, has already awarded several of the contracts that will result from this process – with over 420 million tests already under contract. Given the volume of tests being procured and the diversity of manufacturers, additional contracts will be awarded.

The administration will partner with the United States Postal Service to package and deliver tests to Americans that want them. All orders in the continental United States will be sent through First Class Package Service, with shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories and APO/FPO/DPO addresses sent through Priority Mail.

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