Will RCCL accept this proctored covid testing...?

[sandy toes]

On 5/20/2022 at 12:45 PM, BND said:

DH put our claim in and there was not any statement or question about exposure or symptoms.   You do realize Insurance Companies are required to reimburse up to $12 per test, right?  

 

https://www.cms.gov/how-to-get-your-at-home-OTC-COVID-19-test-for-free

 

The document you provided, clearly states  Plans are not required to provide coverage of testing (including an at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 test) that is for employment purposes. Testing is set up for testing when exposed or showing symptoms and is set up to be reimbursed up to 8 test/month. Travel is a leisure activity. MHO, you are stretching the limits. 

[BND]

3 minutes ago, sandy toes said:

The document you provided, clearly states  Plans are not required to provide coverage of testing (including an at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 test) that is for employment purposes. Testing is set up for testing when exposed or showing symptoms and is set up to be reimbursed up to 8 test/month. Travel is a leisure activity. MHO, you are stretching the limits. 

What are you talking about?  What you highlighted is talking about employment purposes.   

 

So, let's post the question and answer which has nothing to do with the reimbursement requirement for other purposes.

 

13. My employer requires that I test myself multiple times per week and send them the results as a condition of employment. Can I get these tests reimbursed by insurance?

Plans are not required to provide coverage of testing (including an at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 test) that is for employment purposes.

Edited May 24, 2022 by BND

[sandy toes]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:27 PM, PTC DAWG said:

Are people really submitting for insurance payments for a test needed for a vacation? No wonder insurance is so high.  I’ve used EMed test twice now, never even considered my health insurance would owe me money for a vacation. 

Thank you for thinking! There is a clear statement that they will not reimburse for employment. Logic says, they never even thought people would submit for their leisure activities. There are so many loopholes and every one makes insurance costs escalate. 

[sandy toes]

3 minutes ago, BND said:

What are you talking about?  What you highlighted is talking about employment purposes.  

Really? Did you not read what I wrote? Did you only focus on the highlighted sentence?

PLEASE, read what I wrote. Testing was designed for exposure and symptom testing. Then, reimbursement was designed to offset the costs individuals had to pay, especially those without insurance. Now, we have people submitting for their holiday testing. Do you seriously think because there is a loop hole and it is sliding by that it is what you are supposed to be doing? That it will not lead to increased cost of premiums in the future? Misuse is a major cause of rate increases. 

[BND]

4 minutes ago, sandy toes said:

Thank you for thinking! There is a clear statement that they will not reimburse for employment. Logic says, they never even thought people would submit for their leisure activities. There are so many loopholes and every one makes insurance costs escalate. 

Nowhere in that document does it exclude testing for travel.  

[sandy toes]

2 hours ago, BND said:

Nowhere in that document does it exclude testing for travel.  

With everything Covid, it has been a learning process. Reimbursement was meant for medical reason, clearly not employment (something needed). The people that drew up that design probably never thought people would use it for holiday/travel/leisure activities. There have been MANY other programs designed during Covid that did not have every situation addressed, and were filled with loop holes, just as the one you found in this design. 

I do not feel that it is totally meant for this purpose and cannot do it. You have your own conscience guiding your choices.  

[init4fun79]

I buy the test from RCCL, seems right thing to do

[sailor05]

 I am going to be around 5,000 people on my cruise in 2 weeks and for THEIR sake I'm glad I will be tested. If we did not take these tests and 100 people got on one these ships and infected countless people how much would THAT cost the insurance companies? I'd guess more than the measly $12 reimbursement. Let's say all 4,000 guests submitted for and got reimbursed that would be $48,000 for the entire ship. If ONE single person gets it from someone because they are not tested they'll burn through $48,000 in 2 days if hospitalized. So imo, insurance companies are money ahead by paying the $12.

[BND]

13 hours ago, init4fun79 said:

I buy the test from RCCL, seems right thing to do

Royal isn't selling tests.  They just provide the link to the company that does.

[infoseeking]

Has anyone successfully boarded with the Rapid Test and Trace documents? 

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.com/

 

My daughter and I both just tested with them and I noticed the results documents they emailed us don't list the lab CLIA number or certification number.

 

Per Royal Caribbean "You must receive a valid results document from your test provider that includes the name of the lab that processed the test, the lab’s CLIA Lab Number or Certification Number, the address of the lab, your name, the date the test was taken, type of test, and your negative result."

 

I have an email out to Rapid Test and Trace asking if this information can be added.

 

 

[Mum2Mercury]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:27 PM, PTC DAWG said:

Are people really submitting for insurance payments for a test needed for a vacation? No wonder insurance is so high.  I’ve used EMed test twice now, never even considered my health insurance would owe me money for a vacation. 

I literally pay more for insurance than any other line item in my budget, and most months I get nothing in return for that payment.  On top of all I pay each month in premiums, I paid $350 when my husband went to the emergency room a couple weeks ago.  Bills are still rolling in from his subsequent hospital admission, but I'm definitely going to pay the max out-of-pocket, which is about $6000. 

 

Insurance was already sky-high before Covid. 

 

Yes, if they will pay for me to have a Covid test, I'm going to use insurance. 

Edited June 3, 2022 by Mum2Mercury

[Mum2Mercury]

On 5/23/2022 at 1:08 PM, VitaminSea53 said:

And don't forget that those on medicare can get 8 test kits per month for free.

 

"Medicare has a new initiative that will cover up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests each calendar month, at no cost to you. Who's eligible? Medicare will cover these tests if you have Part B, including those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.Apr 4, 2022"

My insurance gives me 8 over-the-counter Covid tests too -- assuming you can find them at the drug store.  Keeping them in stock seems to be a problem.

The insurance company could argue that it's unfair to ask for those 8 tests per month PLUS an in-drug-store test.

[tj_shopper]

On 5/17/2022 at 12:35 PM, NavyCruiser said:

With  another round of 8 free testing kits from USPS:

https://special.usps.com/testkits

 

A few in our group of 30 traveling to Alaska next month, out of Vancouver, has booked from this proctor company, for $20 each proctored test:  

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.com/product/observed-test-for-travel/

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.com/covid19-rapid-tests-devices/?fbclid=IwAR1UW-08JrAFOYjGoe7MHUU5k1rEojVn2zCeChBuS8TOuUlbt3rd-MbsgAY

 

However, we're still bringing our RCCL/Celebrity approved Emed proctored kits, as backup.

 

But does anyone has any good or bad experiences with the above RapidTestandTrace proctored test company...?

Thanks,

My family (4 of us) just used Rapid Test and Trace this morning to do our COVID test.  Very efficient and quick.  We are boarding on Sunday, June 5th.  The email results in PDF has everything on there so I am confident this will be good.  If I remember, I will come back on here to let you know how boarding went.  I did chat with another person although through the Facebook group that said she used this service and had no problems boarding Royal Caribbean cruise with it.  The company was very professional and I kept getting reminder emails for my test.  I got a reminder two days before, one day before and then at 6:30 a.m. this morning.  My test was at 7:00 a.m.  

[infoseeking]

1 minute ago, tj_shopper said:

My family (4 of us) just used Rapid Test and Trace this morning to do our COVID test.  Very efficient and quick.  We are boarding on Sunday, June 5th.  The email results in PDF has everything on there so I am confident this will be good.  If I remember, I will come back on here to let you know how boarding went.  I did chat with another person although through the Facebook group that said she used this service and had no problems boarding Royal Caribbean cruise with it.  The company was very professional and I kept getting reminder emails for my test.  I got a reminder two days before, one day before and then at 6:30 a.m. this morning.  My test was at 7:00 a.m.  

 

That's reassuring. I ended up doing a chat with Rapid Test and Trace. They said they do not provide a CLIA Lab number on the results. I hope our boarding agent is not nit picky.

[johnjen]

On 5/17/2022 at 1:35 PM, NavyCruiser said:

With  another round of 8 free testing kits from USPS:

https://special.usps.com/testkits

 

A few in our group of 30 traveling to Alaska next month, out of Vancouver, has booked from this proctor company, for $20 each proctored test:  

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.com/product/observed-test-for-travel/

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.com/covid19-rapid-tests-devices/?fbclid=IwAR1UW-08JrAFOYjGoe7MHUU5k1rEojVn2zCeChBuS8TOuUlbt3rd-MbsgAY

 

However, we're still bringing our RCCL/Celebrity approved Emed proctored kits, as backup.

 

But does anyone has any good or bad experiences with the above RapidTestandTrace proctored test company...?

Thanks,

The ONLY problem is that an ELEPHANT can walk from Detroit to Chicago in less time (while grazing) than it takes these free USPS tests to arrive to your home after you ordered them a month back.

Edited June 3, 2022 by johnjen

[tj_shopper]

3 minutes ago, infoseeking said:

 

That's reassuring. I ended up doing a chat with Rapid Test and Trace. They said they do not provide a CLIA Lab number on the results. I hope our boarding agent is not nit picky.

Ugh I did not know that about the CLIA Lab number.  Now I'm getting stressed out.  I just checked and all other pertinent information is on the company letterhead with address of the company.  I hope our agent is not picky either.  There are six of us that took the test.

[infoseeking]

At least you've heard of people being able to board with results from that company.

 

I would think the most important bit the agent looks for is the negative result.

 

My proctoring session had a snafu. The assigned agent didn't log on. I just had a "waiting for meeting to start" message for the duration of my scheduled session.

 

I called customer service, then 5 minutes past my scheduled time block, a different proctor than the one I was supposed to have showed up on screen. Customer service did answer the call right away.

[tj_shopper]

12 minutes ago, infoseeking said:

At least you've heard of people being able to board with results from that company.

 

I would think the most important bit the agent looks for is the negative result.

 

My proctoring session had a snafu. The assigned agent didn't log on. I just had a "waiting for meeting to start" message for the duration of my scheduled session.

 

I called customer service, then 5 minutes past my scheduled time block, a different proctor than the one I was supposed to have showed up on screen. Customer service did answer the call right away.

Yes a few people have mentioned that they used Rapid Test and Trace and it was good.  I have two friends that went to CVS this morning.  They took the test and got their negative results.  Their test results does not have a CLIA number and I know that RC have been accepting CVS results.  Our boarding time is at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.  I guess the worst case scenario would be to go to their testing site to retest if they don't accept this or I might just try to find a Walgreens and book us to retest at Walgreens in New York.  We fly out today.  This is just so stressful.

 

[infoseeking]

I agree, super stressful. I'm thinking the CLIA number is not an important detail, even though it's listed by Royal Caribbean.

 

I checked the official reports we've gotten on other Covid tests through our community testing sites over the past year and no CLIA number is on them either. I know a family cruised over spring break on Royal Caribbean with those community test reports.

 

My husband tested this morning with the emed Binax Now test. (He had to do it early, before the Rapid Test and Trace hours.) That report does include the CLIA number.

[johnjen]

On 5/17/2022 at 2:53 PM, mek said:

Does anyone know how far out we can make an appointment for a proctoring  service?

I just now ordered two proctored tests from rapid test and trace, when you order the sessions, there is a link provided to an online calendar where you can choose the date and time, if available. I'll set our sessions up later today when I get home as I don't remember the type of tests we got from USPS - I THINK ours is the SD Biosensor brand, but all FDA approved test kits are authorized via Rapid Test and Trace.

[tj_shopper]

1 hour ago, infoseeking said:

 

I have an email out to Rapid Test and Trace asking if this information can be added.

 

 

Any response yet on this?  It would be great if they could add it.  
 

there are no Walgreens in New York but there are some in New Jersey.  There are CVS in New York and they do have appointments available tomorrow but if their results don’t have the CLIA number, then I don’t think it would be helpful to get retested there.

[infoseeking]

4 minutes ago, tj_shopper said:

Any response yet on this?  It would be great if they could add it.  
 

there are no Walgreens in New York but there are some in New Jersey.  There are CVS in New York and they do have appointments available tomorrow but if their results don’t have the CLIA number, then I don’t think it would be helpful to get retested there.

 

They responded that they do not provide the CLIA number. They said they provide all CDC required information and the CDC does not require the CLIA number.

 

I have decided not to worry about it. Hopefully there would have been some reports of people being turned away if Royal were really so picky.

 

I am not so sure that any of the pharmacy testing places provide the number either. I have not tried them.

[johnjen]

7 minutes ago, infoseeking said:

 

They responded that they do not provide the CLIA number. They said they provide all CDC required information and the CDC does not require the CLIA number.

 

I have decided not to worry about it. Hopefully there would have been some reports of people being turned away if Royal were really so picky.

 

I am not so sure that any of the pharmacy testing places provide the number either. I have not tried them.

I think if Royal got nit-picky over a silly CLIA number, there'd be reports of people lashing out at cruise terminals. I'm not sweating this CLIA crap either, LOL

[BND]

2 hours ago, infoseeking said:

Has anyone successfully boarded with the Rapid Test and Trace documents? 

 

https://rapidtestandtrace.com/

 

My daughter and I both just tested with them and I noticed the results documents they emailed us don't list the lab CLIA number or certification number.

 

Per Royal Caribbean "You must receive a valid results document from your test provider that includes the name of the lab that processed the test, the lab’s CLIA Lab Number or Certification Number, the address of the lab, your name, the date the test was taken, type of test, and your negative result."

 

I have an email out to Rapid Test and Trace asking if this information can be added.

 

 

The Abbott (EMED) tests that Royal provides the link for don't have the CLIA number on the results either.  I just looked at mine again and there is no number.  I'm not sure why Royal says it's required when they recommend a test/lab that doesn't provide it.

[tj_shopper]

39 minutes ago, johnjen said:

I think if Royal got nit-picky over a silly CLIA number, there'd be reports of people lashing out at cruise terminals. I'm not sweating this CLIA crap either, LOL

@infoseeking@johnjen

Agreed.  I’m going to try not to stress about this, but easier said than done as I’m a nervous sort of person lol!

 

I feel better knowing that we are think the same way.  I will try to remember to come back on here to let you all know.  We leave this Sunday.