Americans can again order four free at-home COVID tests from the federal government
(NEW YORK) — Americans can once again order free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government starting Thursday ahead of the upcoming respiratory virus season.
This is the third year in a row the Biden-Harris administration has allowed Americans to order over-the-counter tests at no charge.
Anyone wanting to order tests can do so at COVID.gov/tests. Four tests will be shipped free by USPS, starting Sep. 30.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) first made the announcement last month that the free COVID tests program was restarting.
“As families start to move indoors this fall and begin spending time with their loved ones, both very old and very young, they will once again have the opportunity to order up to four new COVID-19 tests free of charge and have them sent directly to their homes,” Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, said during a media briefing at the time. “These tests will help keep families and their loved ones safe this fall and winter season.”
She added that the tests will be able to detect infection from currently circulating variants.
Currently, KP.3.1.1, an offshoot of the omicron variant, is the dominant variant in the U.S., accounting for an estimated 52.7% of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
During the same media briefing, CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen said immunity from vaccination and previous COVID infection have helped limit the burden of COVID on the health care system.
“I do want to acknowledge that we continue to see a lot of COVID-19 activity across the country right now in tests coming back from labs,” Cohen said, adding, “Circulating COVID disease is not translating into similar increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations or deaths.”
(NEW YORK) — A poultry farm in Wisconsin has recalled all of its eggs distributed in three states that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked to dozens of sicknesses as part of a Salmonella outbreak across nine states.
Details of multi-state salmonella outbreak, egg recall
Milo’s Poultry Farms LLC issued a recall on all carton sizes of all chicken egg types and expiration dates sold under two different labels, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced with the company on Sept. 6.
Milo’s Poultry Farms’ eggs were distributed in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan through retail stores and food service distributors.
The Bonduel-based producer issued the recall on “Milo’s Poultry Farms” and “Tony’s Fresh Market” branded eggs, “because these eggs have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the company said in a statement.
“The recall was initiated after the FDA informed the company that environmental samples tested positive for the bacteria. FDA also conducted whole genome sequencing and found that the samples were related to an ongoing Salmonella outbreak investigation,” the company stated.
Milo’s Poultry Farms has ceased production and distribution as of the time of publication and “will undergo appropriate testing and sanitization of farms and processing equipment.”
The CDC has reported 65 total illnesses and 24 hospitalizations as of time of publication and the active investigation is ongoing.
Symptoms, side effects of salmonella
“Most people infected with Salmonella experience diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. Symptoms usually start 6 hours to 6 days after swallowing the bacteria. Most people recover without treatment after 4 to 7 days,” according to the CDC.
“Some people—especially children younger than 5 years, adults 65 years and older, and people with weakened immune systems—may experience more severe illnesses that require medical treatment or hospitalization,” the agency notes.
(NEW YORK) — Updated COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolled out ahead of the fall and winter season, but some Americans may not easily be able to access them.
In previous years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a Bridge Access Program, a public-private partnership that provided free COVID-19 vaccines to adults without health insurance and adults whose insurance does not cover all COVID-19 vaccine costs.
As a result of federal funding cuts, however, the program is ending this month.
Americans who are covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance will still receive the updated vaccine at no cost. The 25 to 30 million adults who do not have insurance will have to pay out of pocket to get a shot.
“The timing is really unfortunate, because we don’t yet have the 2024-25 versions of the COVID shots generally available yet, so the Bridge program will end before those are available to uninsured individuals,” Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, an associate professor of population health sciences and of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, told ABC News.
The CDC has allocated $62 million in unused vaccine contract funding for state and local programs to buy COVID vaccines for uninsured and underinsured adults to help broaden access, but details remain scant.
“Yes, there were $62 million unspent funds, but state and local health departments have been depleted since the pandemic,” Dr. Rebecca Weintraub, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of Better Evidence at Ariadne Labs, told ABC News. “They don’t have cash reserves to start paying in advance for this type of expensive vaccine.”
Dr. Raynard Washington, public health director of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, said purchasing enough updated COVID vaccines will be a challenge.
There about 100,000 residents between ages 19 and 64 in Mecklenburg County who are uninsured. There are not enough local resources to purchase an adequate supply of vaccines for all those adults, Washington said.
“Even if 10% of those adults wanted to receive a vaccine or needed to receive a vaccine, that still would be several hundred thousand dollars of cost that we would not be able to be able to carry,” he told ABC News.
Washington said there are still some COVID funds available that will help cover the administration costs. However, the county cannot shoulder all of the costs, he explained.
“We are planning to purchase a limited supply but, again, it won’t be sufficient,” Washington said.
Last year, Pfizer and Moderna indicated the commercial price per dose for its vaccine would be between $110 and $130. This year, prices could be just as much or even higher.
Experts say the current prices are a huge financial burden for many Americans and simply out of reach for many uninsured adults.
“People have to make a choice about whether or not they cover the cost of health care or other basic needs,” Washington said.
For children whose parents or guardians cannot afford vaccine coverage for them, there is the federally funded Vaccines for Children Program, which provides free access to vaccines.
The experts told ABC News there is a need to establish a Vaccine for Adults Program, similar to the federal program available for children. They also recommended a pharmacy discount program to help save on the cost of vaccines for low-income or uninsured residents.
Although the lack of no-cost vaccines will be a barrier, vaccines are among the most effective tools when it comes to protecting against severe illness or hospitalization from COVID, they added.
“It still is the No. 1 best tool we have to keep people safe, healthy and alive,” Washington said. “I would certainly encourage folks — particularly those adults, children and residents who are more medically vulnerable or have underlying health conditions — to make sure that they consider vaccination when the vaccines are available, hopefully in the next several days.”
(WASHINGTON) — Health care was one of the topics at the forefront of Tuesday night’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump said he was interested in replacing the Affordable Care Act — also known as “Obamacare” — but implied that he didn’t have any specific plans in place.
“Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was,” Trump said. “It’s not very good today and, what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we’re going to do it and we’re going to replace it.”
When asked by ABC News moderator Linsey Davis to clarify if he had a health care plan, the former president said he had “concepts of a plan” to replace the ACA but provided no details.
“If we can come up with a plan that’s going to cost our people, our population, less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it,” Trump said.
“But if we come up with something, I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive,” he said later in the debate. “And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you’ll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.”
Last year, Trump posted on Truth Social that the ACA “sucks” and that he didn’t want to “terminate” the law but “replace it with much better health care.”
Dr. Dennis Scanlon, a distinguished professor of health policy and administration at Penn State, told ABC News there’s been much less of a focus on repealing and replacing ACA from Trump than seen in 2016 and 2020.
“I think what’s been noticeable in this election cycle [is] less discussion about the Affordable Care Act in terms of let’s repeal it or get rid of it,” he said. “I think last night in the debate, [Trump] basically straddled and said, ‘You know, if I can figure out a way to make it better, and we’re working on some concepts, we’ll do it, but not, that we will get rid of it.’ So I think that’s just different from what it’s been in the last two cycles.”
Scanlon mentioned that repealing the ACA is not even mentioned in the official 2024 Republican Party platform.
In 2010, then-President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law, requiring most Americans to have insurance and directing states to create health insurance exchanges to allow residents to sign up for insurance if they don’t receive coverage via an employer.
During his administration, Trump attempted to partially repeal the ACA by passing the American Health Care Act (ACHA). The plan would have repealed the individual mandate and the employer mandate, amended Medicaid eligibility and weakened protections for patients with pre-existing conditions.
The ACHA passed the House in May 2017 but failed to pass in the Senate. Perhaps mostly infamously, the Senate attempted to pass a so-called “skinny repeal” in late July 2017 but it was rejected, with Republican Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski siding with Senate Democrats to kill the bill.
In December 2017, a Republican tax reform law was passed that eliminated individual mandates, which Gallup said may have reduced participation in the insurance marketplace.
At the end of 2019, 13.7% of adults were without health insurance at the end of 2018, the highest level seen since early 2014, according to Gallup data.
In December 2019, Trump issued an executive order requiring all hospitals to make public standard charges, payer-specific negotiated charges, the amount the hospital is willing to accept in cash and the minimum and maximum negotiated charges.
“This an area where an attempt has been made … but the way it has played out has been challenging and not very effective,” Scanlon said, referring to a KFF analysis which found that transparency data was often inconsistent and confusing. “Such transparency is fundamental to reform and improvement in health care markets.”
In a statement to ABC News, Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, restated the former president’s commitment to release details soon.
“As President Trump said, he will release more details but his overall position on health care remains the same: bring down costs and increase the quality of care by improving competition in the market place,” she said. “This is a stark contrast to Kamala Harris’ support for a socialist government takeover of our healthcare system which would force people off their private plans and result in lower quality care.”
During the debate, Harris criticized Trump’s previous attempts to repeal the ACA, saying she wants to grow and expand the legislation. Her campaign platform mentions expanding the $35 cap on insulin and $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription medication costs for seniors to all Americans.
“There’s been a little bit of detail from the Harris campaign, but I would say also not much,” Scanlon said. “There’s some discussion about negotiating drugs, insulin prices, there has been some work done in that … but there’s a lot more to be done.”