Goodbye and good riddance. The COVID-19 national and public health emergencies that have been in effect for the past three years will come to an end on May 11. That’s the good news — a sign that the pandemic, which has taken more than 1.1 million lives in the U.S. alone, is no longer an official crisis.
The bad news is that the vast majority of Americans — those covered by private insurance plans, along with the 100 million-plus who are on Medicare and Medicaid — may have to pay for any COVID-19 testing and treatment they’ll need in the future. Read: Biden to end U.S. COVID emergencies on May 11, but more than 500 people are still dying every day Why have these things been free for the last three years? Because since the pandemic began, the federal government has covered the cost of COVID-19 tests and vaccines. Everyone was taken care of: citizens covered by private insurance, by Medicare and by Medicaid — the last two categories accounting for more than 100 million Americans, according to the Census Bureau. Uninsured Americans — of whom there are around 31 million men, women and children — were taken care of as well, at least until a federal program to help them ran out of money last April. Since then, as is often the case, the people in this group — about 1 in 11 of our fellow citizens — have had to fend for themselves. People covered by Medicare and private insurance have been able to get up to eight at-home tests per month from retailers for …