Some health providers are charging insurers over $1,000 for COVID tests

State of play: Prices can vary from $20 to $1,419 for a single test, a recent KFF survey of the two largest hospitals in each state found. Federal law requires insurers to reimburse out-of-network providers the cash price of the tests posted on their website.

• Medicare reimburses providers between $36 and $143 per test.
• Some free-standing emergency rooms are charging more than $1,000 per test, KHN reports. And some in-network payment rates are high as well.

Between the lines: Hundreds of millions of coronavirus tests have been performed since the pandemic began, and they continue to be conducted routinely.

• With that kind of volume, the cost of artificially high testing prices can add up quickly.