Democrats want to offer free home COVID-19 testing to everyone| Breaking News Updates

As coronavirus cases rise again in the United States, Democrats want to put rapid, free COVID-19 tests in people’s hands for regular testing.

House Democrats on Wednesday introduced the Free home tests for everyone Law, which would require the federal Department of Health and Human Services to purchase enough rapid home tests to perform two tests per week for one year for everyone living in the United States – for free.

The bill, led by Representatives Don Beyer (Va.), Dina Titus (Nev.), Joe Morelle (NY) and Kaialiʻi Kahele (Hawaii), requires testing to be available at drugstores, schools and by order. online or by phone. .

“Like our society is adjusting to the threat of Covid, a major challenge the country continues to face is the need for more testing, ”Beyer said in a statement. Release. “We all want a return to normalcy, and we need more accessible and affordable home testing to get there. “

Lawmakers applauded recent measures by President Joe Biden’s administration increasing the availability of free tests at community clinics, as well as require private insurers to cover the costs of home tests. But the latter does not benefit the millions of people in the United States who do not have private health insurance.

Earlier Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Reintroduced a law that would allow the government to send three N95 breathing masks to everyone in the country.

The United States has seen a steep climb in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks as the highly contagious variant of omicron has spread. Hospitalizations and deaths remain low for fully vaccinated and vaccinated people.