5 places where you can buy a home COVID-19 test today
Beginning Saturday, the White House is requiring private insurers to cover the cost of eight at-home COVID-19 tests per month for people covered under a health plan.
Federal reimbursement for rapid COVID-19 tests could Americans save big bucks. Pricing for the tests starts at roughly $12 each, but can reach $35 for a pack of two tests at some places. As the spreading Omicron variant fuels demand for a fast and easy way to check for infections, reports of price gouging are surfacing as well.
For now, the at-home screening tools are still hard to find in stock — many are sold out across brick-and-mortar pharmacy chains and online retailers. If you're looking for a test, read on to learn about five places that offer a range of at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests that are authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration.
CVS Pharmacy
CVS Pharmacy has the FlowFlex COVID-19 antigen home test in stock today, according to the drugstore chain's website. At $9.99 per test, consumers are limited to six tests per order. The test is authorized for emergency use by the FDA, and was also deemed a top-tier kit from a usability perspective by ECRI, the patient safety organization.
CVS is sold out online of Abbott's BinaxNow test kit, which ECRI deemed slightly less easy to use, calling it "middle tier" in terms of ease of use.
Deme Tech
Medical equipment supplier Deme Tech also has over-the-counter rapid antigen tests in stock. The company sells Intrivo's On/Go tests for $24.99 per box of two, and for now there is no limit on how many boxes customers can purchase.
iHealth Labs
Another site, findacovidtest.org, directs visitors to iHealth Labs' website, which has its own brand of at-home antigen test in stock now, at $19.80 per two tests.
Apps that track the availability of hard-to-find goods can help do the legwork for you. Websites and apps including HotStock, NowInStock.net, ZooLert and Brickseek have added COVID-19 home tests to their roster of in-demand items and are regularly updated to reflect availability.
Ro
Telemedicine company Ro, originally a men's health care company that dealt with problems such as erectile dysfunction and hair loss, has plenty of COVID-19 tests to go around, CEO Zachariah Reitano recently told CBS MoneyWatch.
On its website, Ro offers up up to 12 packs of Intrivo Diagnostics' On/Go COVID-19 rapid antigen self test kit. The only catch is that at $30 for two tests, the kits are slightly pricier than other tests.
If your health insurance provider sets up a preferred network of COVID-19 test vendors and you purchase one outside that system, the insurer is required to reimburse you only up to $12 per test, according to rules outlined by the White House.
ECRI, an independent patient safety group that evaluated a handful of tests, gave the On/Go test a "very good" score from a usability perspective.
Walgreens
As of Thursday morning, Walgreens has Abbott's BinaxNow rapid COVID-19 self-test kit in stock online for $23.99. Delivery time for the product is three to five days, so it's wise to check if the test kits are available at a nearby store if you need one sooner. Don't count on availability, though — test kits tend to sell out as soon as they hit store shelves.
When scouring the internet for test kits, beware of at least one variety that the FDA is warning against using. The FDA this week is warning consumers to stop using the LuSys Laboratories COVID-19 Antigen Test (Nasal/Saliva) and the LuSys Laboratories COVID-19 IgG/IgM Antibody Test, which are likely to produce false results, according to the agency.
Neither item has been authorized or approved by the FDA for distribution or use in the U.S.
— CBS News' Irina Ivanova contributed to this report.