Using insurance when purchasing covid test supplies

[misha1]

Hello fellow cruisers.  I have had my head in the sand with regards to testing prior to sailing.  Our ever changing environment and rules has me sitting on the back burner, so to speak.  Since our September cruise (first since pandemic shutdown) is sneaking up on me, I suppose it is time to start paying attention.  If I order our test kits from Celebrity, how does one get insurance reimbursement?  (Pretty sure mine covers but will find out for sure).  And, does each person in our party need their own proctoring account?  In other words, there are 2 couples, do we need 4 accounts?  What about 4 seperate e mails for results?  I have watched some you tube proctored sessions.  It seems like a lap tap is easier to use than a phone?  Thanks for any info you can offer

[Arizona Wildcat]

Misha go to covid.gov/tests.  They will send you 8 tests to each address FREE.  2 addresses you get 16 tests.  You can order every other month.  Thus get today and you could get more in August.   Lots easier than insurance.   I have no idea why anyone would buy them thru Celebrity.   If you really want to use your insurance then go to your local pharmacy and give them your insurance card.

You can use at home or for cruising with a proctor service.  I use Rapid Test and Trace but there are some two dozen companies.  Charges range from $15-40pp.  They then email you a certificate for boarding.  Each proctoring company has its own rules.  Rapid Test wanted 1 account for the two of us.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Arizona Wildcat

[misha1]

30 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Misha go to covid.gov/tests.  They will send you 8 tests to each address FREE.  2 addresses you get 16 tests.  You can order every other month.  Thus get today and you could get more in August.   Lots easier than insurance.   I have no idea why anyone would buy them thru Celebrity.   If you really want to use your insurance then go to your local pharmacy and give them your insurance card.

You can use at home or for cruising with a proctor service.  I use Rapid Test and Trace but there are some two dozen companies.  Charges range from $15-40pp.  They then email you a certificate for boarding.  Each proctoring company has its own rules.  Rapid Test wanted 1 account for the two of us.

Interesting...so one does not HAVE to use the Binax antigen test per Celebrity site recommendation?

[39august]

No, you do not. 

[cruisestitch]

Absolutely not

 

you can go to your doctor or county health test site, or Select Walgreens or CVS, and there are probably other options, too.

[PKB]

Each proctoring business has its own requirements.  Emed requires the Binax Now test you must purchase through them or Celebrity.  This company has been the most reliable and consistent.  However, I have read of tests ruled invalid because of broken box seals, liquid vials being empty, and no adhesive on the card that folds over the swab.  And you can't open the box to verify the contents are intact.   The company will replace the invalid test at no charge. Whatever testing company you decide to use, bring at least two tests per person with you.  At over $25.00 per test, and eight in our group, I am leaning away from emed/celebrity testing.  Onpoint-testing is also a much used vendor.  Any USA test can be used.  Just bring extras.

Edited June 30, 2022 by PKB

[TFree]

Just be aware that whatever kind of test you use, it must be supervised/proctored and give you results in either printed or electronic form.  You can order home tests from the government or from a pharmacy, but you still need to arrange for some kind of proctoring.  I haven't done that (we have only used eMed Abbott proctored tests), but I understand that others have done so.

 

On your original question about insurance, though, in our case we are on Medicare with a Medicare supplement plan.  I submitted to the supplement insurer the invoice for the tests we bought through eMed.com, and to my surprise they reimbursed us 100%.

 

With eMed or Navica (basically the same operation), you normally need a separate account for each person who is going to take a test.  I have heard (but cannot confirm) that you can set up your account so as to allow multiple family members to take the test under the same account, so you could check that out.

 

We have observed others taking the test on a phone, but we have only done ours on laptops.  In my opinion, laptops are easier, but others probably differ on that view.

 

Tom & Judy

[PTC DAWG]

No wonder our insurance keeps going up.  I choose to travel, hence I need a test, I will pay for it myself, and have.  3 times for the Wife and I so far. 
 

$25 PP is cheap, if that breaks me, I need to rethink things. 

[Jim_Iain]

6 hours ago, misha1 said:

Interesting...so one does not HAVE to use the Binax antigen test per Celebrity site recommendation?

No you don't but the test must be proctored.   The Binax include the price of testing while the other services you need to pay for the Proctoring separate from the test itself.

 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

5 hours ago, PKB said:

Each proctoring business has its own requirements.  Emed requires the Binax Now test you must purchase through them or Celebrity.  This company has been the most reliable and consistent.  However, I have read of tests ruled invalid because of broken box seals, liquid vials being empty, and no adhesive on the card that folds over the swab.  And you can't open the box to verify the contents are intact.   The company will replace the invalid test at no charge. Whatever testing company you decide to use, bring at least two tests per person with you.  At over $25.00 per test, and eight in our group, I am leaning away from emed/celebrity testing.  Onpoint-testing is also a much used vendor.  Any USA test can be used.  Just bring extras.

PKB - A couple clarifications.

 

Have not seen anything that says Emed is the most reliable company.  All proctoring companies had issues with having the capacity to meet demand early this year.  There are companies located in many countries. 

 

The good news is with testing not required for air travel that problem of scheduling difficulties  has disappeared.  It is not difficult to watch a person take an antigen test and sendxan email confirming the result. 

 

Some proctoring companies are available 24/7.  That might be helpful to those outside the US.

 

Also interestingly a UK or Canadian or Australian approved test is quite acceptable for the protoring companies and Celebrity. 

 Just needs to be government approved.  Lots of people living and traveling elsewhere.

 

You are correct that the packaging of Covid tests makes them susceptible to damage.  A bit of bubble wrap and rigid carbon are a great idea.  Packing in a checked bag is not for all sorts of reasons.

[jelayne]

We have done eMed tests for 5 cruises and so far never a wait for a proctor and not had a defective test kit. 
 

Got our free tests and after returning from our most recent cruise DH didn’t feel well.  So he got out a box of free tests.  1st box he opened both tests were lacking the solution.   Next box the 1st test he opened was okay so 1out of 3 tests was good.  We have enough eMeds tests for our next 2 cruises with extras.  Hopefully by them testing won’t be necessary.