The Biden administration has announced it will let the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration expire on May 11. That means the federal government will no longer fully pay for testing, treatment, and vaccines for people who don’t have health insurance.
“The changes may be subtle for most people. This announcement … is about two of a handful of different federal declarations that are going to be allowed to expire or be terminated. Those two declarations primarily affect things like how we finance health care services,” says Lindsay Wiley, professor of law and faculty director of the Health Law and Policy Program at UCLA. “So the effects are going to vary depending on what kind of insurance coverage you have.”