The daily business briefing: January 11, 2022

Biden administration tells insurers to cover COVID tests, greenhouse-gas emissions drive record ocean warming, and more

Rapid at-home COVID-19 test kits
Rapid at-home COVID-19 test kits
(Image credit: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Biden administration to require insurers to cover COVID tests

The Biden administration said Monday that private health insurers will be required to cover the costs for up to eight home COVID-19 tests a month for every person on their plans, starting Saturday. The administration is offering incentives for insurers and group health plans to partner with specific retailers so members can get tests with no upfront costs, but everyone with private insurance will be able to get reimbursed for tests purchased Jan. 15 or later. The federal government is launching a website later this month to distribute 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests via mail, another part of the administration's effort to increase testing to help curb the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.