send free kits to residents who request them, but neither jurisdiction requires insurance coverage for them. The National Coalition of STD Directors is sending free kits to people through health departments in Philadelphia, Iowa, Virginia, Indiana, Puerto Rico and Navajo County, Ariz. The list of recipients is expected to grow in January.
Iwantthekit.org, a project of Johns Hopkins University, has been sending free kits to Maryland residents since 2004, and to Alaskans since 2011. The program is funded by grants and works with local health departments. Charlotte Gaydos, co-founder of the project, said that requests for test kits during the pandemic nearly tripled — and that she would expand to every state if she could bill insurance the way the California law mandates.
The tests fall into a murky regulatory area. While they have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, none have been cleared for use at home. Patients are supposed to collect their own samples within the walls of a health facility, and some labs may not analyze samples collected at home.
Vlad Carrillo, 31, experienced such trade-offs recently. Carrillo used to get tested at a San Francisco clinic, where they could get counseling and other services. But Carrillo lost their apartment during the pandemic and moved about seven hours away to Bishop, the only incorporated city in rural Inyo County.Carrillo eventually got the kit through the mail, avoiding the stigma of going to the clinic in Bishop, which is “more focused on straight stuff,” like preventing pregnancy.
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