Health insurers must pay for your at-home Covid tests as of Jan. 15—here's how to get reimbursed

Starting Saturday, private insurers must cover the cost of up to eight at-home Covid-19 tests per month, the Biden administration announced>What you need to know 

You're now entitled to up to eight over-the-counter at-home tests per month, which must be fully reimbursed by your insurance company, with no deductibles or cost-sharing. Packages that include multiple tests will be considered a single test for the purpose of reimbursement.

Additionally, test kit costs are covered if they're part of a clinical assessment by a health-care provider. That means you get eight free tests month, plus whatever number of tests a doctor asks you to take.

The tests must also be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. To know if a test is eligible, check here for a searchable list of approved rapid antigen-based tests and here for molecular-based (PCR) tests. 

Pretty much every type of private health insurance is covered, including employment-based group health plans, state-run plans and church plans. Limited-term plans are excepted, as are plans that>How to get your at-home Covid test kits reimbursed

As of Saturday, you should be able to purchase a kit from a pharmacy, store or online retailer and make a claim with your insurer using the receipt from your purchase.

The Biden administration says that there are plans to incentivize insurers so that the reimbursement process is automatic at the point of purchase, without having to file a claim, but that's still in the works.