Cost of masks and tests deepens a pandemic wedge between the haves and the have-nots

President Biden also said Thursday his administration was planning to make “high-quality” masks available to the public at no charge but declined to offer details, including when the masks would be available.Still, workers and experts have expressed frustration that the state and federal governments are not moving more quickly and transparently to provide rapid tests and high-quality filtration masks, such as the N95 and the KN95, to residents at low cost or for free, especially in recent months as case and hospitalization numbers spiked amid the very infectious omicron variant. The hope, Khanna said, was for the federal government to use the Defense Production Act to expand the number of rapid tests and masks available, and then provide them free to every person in the U.S. who needed them.Even allowing people to be reimbursed for tests they purchased through their health insurance companies does not go far enough, he said, noting that there are many here who have neither health care coverage nor the time to tangle with their insurance companies.“A lot of people don’t have the cash to pay up front and wait for reimbursement,” said Khanna, adding that even he had waited months to be reimbursed for tests that were covered by his insurance. “Of note, we fulfilled our commitment to the Biden Administration to sell at cost for 100 days, and that pricing program has now phased out and precommitment retail pricing ($23.99) has been reinstated,” Howard said in an email.Still, critics have said, Walmart and Kroger's own retail workers would likely have to work multiple hours to afford a single test kit at those prices. “It’s an upside down world because front-line workers who actually are out there encountering risk and facing the public can’t afford tests, are not being rigorously tested by their employers, lack the resources and the time to go chasing after these pandemic prevention strategies and are least likely to have paid sick leave and must work in person,” he said.