2020 has been a year that has really shaken my trust in politicians and government. It has fallen far from what my ancestors fought and risked their lives for when they signed the Declaration and the Constitution. I’m not even going to get into the obvious stuff like the election or Black Lives Matter. I am talking about COVID-19. It has been handled terribly by pretty much all sides of politics. Some go too far and deny how bad it is, others go too far with their reactions to keeping it from spreading. Honestly, I don’t know the correct answer, but, like most things, I believe it lies somewhere in the middle. One thing that really got under my skin and prompted me to write this was how the government is handling the testing for COVID-19.

Back in November I was exposed to COVID by a friend who I had coffee with that didn’t know they had it. So I immediately started looking into getting tested. I called up my doctor’s office and told them I thought I had been exposed and wanted to know if I should bother getting tested given the circumstances of how I was exposed. I was just asking if I should get tested. They wanted to charge me my co-pay of about $25 just to talk on the phone to someone to determine whether or not I should get a test. I promptly told them that I wasn’t going to pay money to ask someone if I needed a test. Absolutely ridiculous.

I then started looking online. When you Google “how much does a COVID test cost?” One of the first links that comes up is a Q&A on the Department of Health and Human Services website. They state several dozen places that Covid tests “are available at no cost nationwide at health centers and select pharmacies,” and that the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act ensures that COVID-19 testing is free to anyone in the U.S., including the uninsured.”

They go on to provide a list of places in each state where one can get “no-cost testing”. That sounds good, right? If it were true, that would be great, but sadly, it isn’t true at all.

They provide links to the websites of pharmacies and local healthcare places in your area to go to to get “no-cost testing” but when you click on those links the places they list are not free at all. The lowest I was able to find was $100 plus a doctors visit fee. Other pharmacies have half a dozen variations of the tests that range up into the several hundred dollar range. All of this under the HHS headline of “no-cost testing”.

Someone I know who owns a small business has ObamaCare as their insurance. Remember all the great things it promised? Well, when the person I know was exposed, the cheapest test that he could get with ObamaCare cost him $500 out of pocket! And here I was thinking ObamaCare was supposed to help people that don’t have much money. I guess not. I’ve even heard about tests costing upwards of $800!

The insurance I have through my day job is fantastic, so I looked into how my they were handling the testing. They told me that they would only allow me to get a “no-cost-to-me” test if I had symptoms.

Needless to say, I didn’t get tested and instead quarantined for the latest CDC recommended time of 10 days. I never had any symptoms and I’m fine.

Wherever you are on the political spectrum, you have to admit that they are misleading the public. If you are a hardcore Trump supporter, just look at how his HHS lies/misleads the public. If you are a hardcore Obama/Biden fan, look at how much their ObamaCare plan is charging people for COVID tests. It’s ridiculous.

Again, I’m not downplaying COVID in any way. As of right now, I know at least 48 people who got COVID, and 15% of those I know who got it died from it.

People downplay it by saying that the regular flu is worse than COVID, but I’ve never known anyone that has died from the flu. I’m not saying the flu doesn’t kill people, I’m just saying I’ve never known anyone who died from the flu but know plenty who have died from COVID. One last thing I will say: wear a stinkin mask! It is literally the least you can do to protect yourself and others. Doctors have literally be wearing face masks to prevent contaminating patients and to prevent being contaminated themselves for over 100 years.