KING COUNTY, Wash. — As coronavirus cases surge, demand for testing is growing so high some private companies are charging hundreds of dollars for each rapid PCR test.
This comes as UW testing facilities are closing early, or altogether, because of the cold weather.
KIRO 7 talked to a Kirkland man whose parents were headed back to India, with no time to spare. So, they came here for their COVID-19 tests. And he paid a pretty penny.
Business was brisk at GS Labs in Bellevue, on offer, rapid COVID-19 tests.
This is where Pradeep Narayanashetty ended up in a desperate search for tests for his visiting parents.
“It’s a requirement from the Indian government,” he said. “When you enter the country you need to have a RPCR test done.”
Narayanashetty first tried the free drive-in testing sites, and national pharmacies too.
“There were no appointments,” he said. “Yeah, yeah, none of them.”
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So they tried a walk-in urgent care center and got sticker shock.
“Two-fifty bucks for the test,” said Narayanashetty.
But his parents did not have U.S. insurance.
“Then I’d have to pay an additional $500 bucks,” he said. “So, just in the ballpark of $750 to $800 for one person to get the test done there.”
Arden Hoover and his family were exposed to COVID-19 on their Christmas cruise to Mexico.
“We just looked around at all these testing sites and they were all switching over to appointment only,” he said.
So, they, too, were desperate to get a rapid test.
They ended up here at Discovery Health at Seattle’s Fisherman’s terminal. The cost: $180 per test. They needed four of them.
“Nobody likes to shell out $720 bucks or whatever it was,” said his father, Nathan. “At least we were able to do it.”
At GS Labs, it cost nearly $800 for Pradeep Narayanashetty’s parents to be tested, half the cost at urgent care. But it is still a hefty sum.
“It felt like the weather, the holidays,” he said. “And then maybe there was some sort of price gouging, I guess.”
It says on the GS Labs website, that each test costs $385 dollars. It also says most of the cost will be paid by insurance. But if you aren’t insured, you will pay and pay big.
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