Health care

The cost of needed COVID-19 diagnosis, testing and treatment for the uninsured is paid for by the government. Check your symptoms using the Symptom Screener or by talking to your doctor. Medically necessary testing is also free through Verily’s Project Baseline or OptumServe

Yes, if you:

• Have COVID-19 symptoms,
• Were exposed to someone who has COVID-19, or
• The test is medically necessary for your situation. 

If you have COVID-19 symptoms or think you’ve been exposed, under federal law, you can get a test anywhere and your health plan must pay for it.

If you are an essential worker, your health plan must cover your COVID-19 test. But you must contact your health plan before getting tested. 

If none of these things above are true but you’d still like a test, contact your health plan or health care provider.

As a first step, you can check your symptoms using the Symptom Screener or by contacting your doctor.

Your wait time depends on why you are seeking a test. 

If you have COVID-19 symptoms or think you were exposed, under federal law, you can go immediately to any testing site. Find a testing site on our Testing page, or call your health plan for an available testing location.

If you are an essential worker, your health plan must offer you a test appointment within 48 hours. The testing site must be within 15 miles or 30 minutes of your home or workplace. If your health plan can’t find you such an appointment, then you can go to any available testing site. Your health plan will pay for the test. 

If neither of these cases above are true, your provider may still decide that a COVID-19 test is medically necessary for you. In that case, your health plan must offer you a test appointment within 96 hours. The testing site must be within 15 miles or 30 minutes of your home or workplace. If your health plan can’t find you such an appointment, then you can go to any available testing site.

Self-insured plans are regulated by the federal government, not the state. If you have COVID-19 symptoms or were exposed to someone with symptoms, under federal law, your self-insured plan must cover your test. In all other instances, you should talk to your plan to find out whether they will cover COVID-19 testing.

Your health plan can ask you questions about why you want a COVID-19 test and about the nature of your work. This helps them determine whether a COVID-19 test is medically necessary for you.

But they can’t ask you to provide further documentation or evidence of your work status. For example, they can’t ask you to provide written proof of where you work or the conditions of your workplace.

If you can’t access care, or were charged in error, follow up with your health plan. Call the member phone number listed on your health plan card. If they don’t fix the problem, call the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) Help Center at 1-888-466-2219.

Yes. Both Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans cover diagnostic and antibody tests, with no out-of-pocket costs.

Yes. Medicare has expanded its telehealth services to respond to the public health emergency. You can now use your smartphone, video chat, or online portal from home to talk with a range of providers, like doctors, nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists. If you have original Medicare, you can get many services for free through telehealth. This includes common office visits, mental health counseling, and preventive health screenings.

If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan, you have access to these same benefits. Many plans offer more telehealth and other benefits, like meal delivery or medical transport. Check with your plan about coverage and costs.

The following services are covered:

• Specimen collection, diagnostic and antibody testing
• Testing-related visits, including in the following settings: 
  • Office 
  • Urgent care 
  • Emergency room, or 
  • Telehealth
• Treatment, including:
  • Office visit
  • Telehealth
  • Emergency room 
  • Inpatient 
  • Outpatient/observation 
  • Skilled nursing facility 
  • Long-term acute care (LTAC) 
  • Acute inpatient rehab 
  • Home health 
  • Durable Medical Equipment (DME), like oxygen and ventilator
  • Emergency ambulance transportation 
  • Non-emergent patient transfers via ambulance, and
  • FDA-approved drugs administered as part of an inpatient stay
  • FDA-approved vaccine, when available

For more details, see the HRSA website and their frequently asked questions.

Yes. Medi-Cal is available to those with no insurance or whose insurance does not cover COVID-19 diagnosis, testing, and treatment. COVID-19 diagnosis, testing and treatment are considered emergency services. This allows all Medi-Cal beneficiaries, regardless of their scope of coverage under Medi-Cal or their immigration status, to receive at no cost all medically necessary testing, testing-related, and treatment services, which may include inpatient or outpatient services related to a COVID-19 diagnosis.

No. DHCS instructed counties to freeze the Medi-Cal eligibility redeterminations for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Call Medi-Nurse. Medi-Nurse is a free, 24/7 nurse advice line available at 1-877-409-9052. You can speak directly with a healthcare professional about your symptoms, get advice on testing and treatment in your area, or ask how to apply for health insurance.

You are not alone. The California Surgeon General released two playbooks for managing stress and tips for care-givers and kids. If you feel like you need to talk to someone and want emotional support see this list of resources.

If you have coronavirus symptoms, please contact your doctor through telehealth or use the Symptom Screener.

If you have other illnesses or chronic conditions, use telehealth to get care from home.

If you need to go to the hospital, call ahead so they can prepare for your arrival. If you call 911, tell the operator your symptoms so the ambulance provider can be ready to treat you safely.

Non-emergency surgeries, like organ replacements and tumor removals, can take place. Your doctor will know if your hospital has enough capacity and protective equipment. Elective procedures should be cancelled or rescheduled. If possible, health care visits should be done remotely. Dental services and preventive dental care may be resumed. Contact your doctor through telehealth to see what services they are providing.

Yes. Pharmacies and medical cannabis dispensaries are open.

Call your doctor to get a new prescription or adjust your existing prescriptions.

Call the statewide hotline for older Californians at 1-833-544-2374. They can help you with non-urgent medical needs, meal delivery, tracking down prescriptions, and more. The most important thing you can do is stay home for your health and wellbeing.

Check in on your older neighbors and loved ones to make sure they are okay. Give them a call, text, or physically-distanced door knock. You can also teach them how to use FaceTime, Zoom, Google Duo, or Facebook video to communicate. It’s important to keep in touch with older loved ones for their mental health and safety.

Yes. Protect them and yourself by following physical distancing guidelines. Wear a mask, wash your hands often, maintain at least six feet of distance between you, and cover your cough or sneeze. If you have early signs of a cold, please stay away from your older loved ones.

Generally, no. There are exceptions, such as if you are taking a minor or someone who is developmentally disabled to the hospital. For most other situations, the order prohibits visitation to these kinds of facilities. This is difficult, but necessary to protect hospital staff and other patients. See more about this in frequently asked questions for friends and family with a loved one in a skilled nursing or residential care facility.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) are dedicated to the safety of everyone who lives in, works in, and visits state prisons. CDCR and CCHCS have worked diligently to make unprecedented changes to its operations to address the COVID-19 emergency and to protect all those who live and work in their institutions. They have successfully implemented an expedited transition to parole more than 3,500 inmates to increase space within their institutions statewide. Total incarcerated persons in California’s prisons dropped by more than 20 percent since the start of the pandemic. CDCR continue to take additional precautions and actions as well, including:

• Suspending intake from county jails 
• Reducing the density in dorms
• Verbal and temperature screening of all those entering state prisons
• Providing masks and hand sanitizer to all staff and the incarcerated population
• Suspending in-person visiting and volunteering.

See CDCR’s COVID-19 Response Efforts for more detailed information.