A federal COVID-19 program that pays for testing, treatment and vaccines for individuals without health insurance will soon stop accepting claims due to a lack of sufficient funds.

This comes after Congress failed to reach an agreement on new COVID-19 relief funding in a broad budget bill President Biden signed last week.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has said that the COVID-19 Uninsured Program will continue to accept claims for testing and treatment until 11:59 p.m. on March 22, 2022, and claims for vaccine administration until 11:59 p.m. on April 5, 2022. The program was put in place near the start of the pandemic and has paid out more than $175 billion dollars to over 50,000 providers according to HRSA’s data. 

The California Medical Association is inquiring about whether additional funds will be allocated in the future, and will provide more information as it becomes available.

For more details: www.hrsa.gov/coviduninsuredclaim/submission-deadline.