Thread by @DrEricDing

ATROCIOUS—This Lab Charges $380 for a #COVID19 Test. Insurers say GS Lab is price-gouging, but Trump-era CARES Act of 2020 left an opening for labs to charge any price they wished—up $380 a test—as well as billing both antibody+rapid on same day (no sense)
nytimes.com/2021/09/26/ups…

2) At the drugstore, a rapid Covid test usually costs less than $20.
Across the country, over a dozen testing sites owned by the start-up company GS Labs regularly bill $380.

3) There’s a reason they can. When Congress tried to ensure that Americans wouldn’t have to pay for coronavirus testing, it required insurers to pay certain laboratories whatever “cash price” they listed online for the tests, with no limit on what that might be.

4) GS Labs’s high prices and growing presence —it has performed a half-million rapid tests since the pandemic’s start, and still runs thousands daily — show how the government’s longstanding reluctance to play a role in health prices has hampered its attempt to protect consumers.

5) As a result, Americans could ultimately pay some of the cost of expensive coronavirus tests in the form of higher insurance premiums.

6) Many health insurers have refused to pay GS Labs’ fees, some contending that the laboratory is price-gouging. A Blue Cross plan in Missouri has sued GS Labs over its prices, seeking a ruling that would void $10.9 million in claims.
bluekc.com/consumer/blue-…

7) Omaha-based GS Labs contends the exact opposite: that it has public policy on its side, pointing to the CARES Act passed in 2020. “Insurers are obligated to pay cash price, unless we come to a negotiated rate,” said Christopher Erickson, a partner at GS Labs.

8) The requirement that insurers pay the cash price applies only to out-of-network laboratories, meaning those that have not negotiated a price with the insurer.

9) There are signs other laboratories may be acting like GS Labs: A study published this summer found that the share of coronavirus tests conducted at out-of-network facilities rose to 27 percent from 21 percent between April 2020 and March 2021. ahip.org/wp-content/upl…