Major Changes in the COVID Testing, Treatment and Vaccine Market

WASHINGTON – Once the federal government stops paying for COVID vaccines, testing and treatment, Medicare, Medicaid and privately insured patients should still be able to get these items at low cost or free, but according to Kaiser Family Fund Issue briefings for the meeting, the situation will be more difficult for those who are underinsured or uninsured.

There are two things that will happen soon that will affect the supply of COVID-related products, the briefing famously said. First, the supply of these items purchased by the federal government is running out, and “while the administration has indicated that it will need additional funding if it is to procure and make more products available for free (and has asked Congress to provide approximately $9.1 billion as part of that) Part of the Supplemental Emergency Funding Request), Congress has not provided any,” the authors noted. “It is widely expected that once the current federally purchased supply is exhausted, these products will move to the commercial market for manufacture, procurement and pricing.”

This depletion may incur costs to patients apportionment, in addition, “without a guaranteed ‘market’ for these products by the federal government through early purchases, would manufacturers have an incentive to produce sufficient quantities of product, including, for example, during future COVID-19 surges or for new and updated vaccines? ,” the briefing said. “It’s also uncertain how much vaccine local pharmacies can buy, especially in low-demand areas.”

The second event was the federal announcement against COVID-19, which, among other things, asked for free Provides certain COVID-19 treatments. The government has extended PHE several times for 90-day periods, but it is likely to end in 2023, “at which time the protections related to PHE enacted by Congress and the government will also end immediately, or in some cases, after they end. 1 year is over,” the authors noted. Combined, they said, the events could be a “double whammy” and – depending on the patient’s insurance coverage – “access issues could be in the form of new or higher cost-sharing, more limited coverage, or both. It appears in some form.”

What’s the bottom line?

“Who you get insurance from — or if you don’t — really matters, so the uninsured lose the most,” the question Briefing co-author Dr. Jen Kates, director of global health and AIDS policy at the foundation, said the report in a webinar Wednesday. “The other thing that’s different is if you’re talking about vaccines, treatments or testing, it’s important.”

Talking about vaccines, “Once we get into the commercial market…. .. . It’s an incredible thing that everyone with public and private insurance should have access to vaccines for free without cost-sharing. If manufacturers don’t produce enough, there will be supply problems, but at least from coverage From a scope perspective, the vaccine should be the most cared for.” However, she added that this is not the case for the uninsured. While uninsured children can still get free COVID vaccines through the federal Children’s Vaccine Program, “if you’re an uninsured adult, you’re a little out of luck.”

Health and Dawn O’Connell, J.D., assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Human Services, said providing vaccines, testing and treatment for the uninsured and underinsured “has always been a key part of the federal government’s work.” “. HHS). “In our FY 2023 budget proposal, we made some recommendations for the Adult Vaccine Program proposal — very similar to the Children’s Vaccine Program that the CDC is currently running — that would cover those vaccines.” In addition, “We have a great federal The Qualified Health Center program, run by HRSA [Health Resources and Services Administration], and provides care on a sliding scale,” including vaccines, she said.

Unlike vaccines, patients will no longer have free access to COVID testing and treatment once they transition to insurance, Kates said. “A lot of people will face cost-sharing. If you have public and private or private insurance, you’ll still get [testing and treatment], but if you don’t already, there may be cost-sharing in the future.” As for the uninsured, “if there is no federal Buy and protect, they simply cannot guarantee access to tests or treatments in new settings.”

Kates highlighted the huge impact that would happen once the government stopped buying COVID tests, vaccines and treatments. “There was a shortage of tests before the Biden administration bought free home testing for every American and instituted a new policy of eight free tests a month if you have insurance,” she said. So? Well, we’ve gotten out of the surge, and the vaccines are coming out, and we’re all like, ‘Okay, maybe we’re in a different place.’ And the test makers, for the tests that are already licensed, don’t see the market. They don’t See the requirements they think they need to see. So why are they doing these tests? They don’t have a t.”

“Even with coverage protection, even if those don’t go away, that might It shows up again and again,” Cates said. “So early procurement or assurance of the market is a very critical part of that.”

Rena Conti, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing, public policy and law at Boston University, praised the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) The effort, called BARDA Ventures, “is essentially a small venture capital group looking for platform-based technologies that have both pandemic-response applications and possibly commercial applications for cancer vaccines or other types of Treatment… This kind of investment in entrepreneurial public finance is very sound, and I think it will put us in a good position for the next pandemic.”

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  Joyce Frieden oversees MedPage Today ‘s Washington coverage, including stories about Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, health care industry associations and federal agencies. She has 35 years of experience in healthcare policy. follow