Woman furious after getting charged for COVID-19 test

INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. (WBTV) - A Charlotte area woman is furious after spending months fighting with a local hospital over a COVID test charge. After getting no results, she contacted WBTV.

Michelle Mosher has insurance, and even if she didn’t, the federal CARES Act says anyone who needs a COVID test should get one for free. Despite that, it took our calls to get the hospital to resolve the bill.

“I needed to get a COVID test because my boyfriend’s coworker tested positive,” said Michelle Mosher.

She went to an Atrium Health urgent care in August for a COVID-19 test and nobody asked for her insurance.

She thought it would be free.

Instead, she got a surprise bill from Atrium a month later for $40.60.

“She looked at my records and she said yeah this is for your COVID-19 test and I said well, they’re free.”

That call to Atrium revealed the problem. They had her insurance on file as Medicaid, which is wrong.

“She said you don’t have Medicaid so we need to get your insurance information so we can submit the claim to your insurance company.”

Mosher has been fighting with Atrium since September and getting nowhere. WBTV contacted Atrium and explained the case and questioned the charge for COVID-19-testing. Atrium responded with an email indicating they would resolve the concern.

Mosher says after our call, she finally received a follow up call from Atrium telling her to disregard the bill. Atrium sent Mosher an email saying they’d file a claim with her insurance, which would clear her balance.

Two months after receiving the bill, Mosher appreciates WBTV’s efforts to eliminate and clarify the billing error.

“This just makes me wonder how many other people have gotten a bill and just paid it not thinking twice about it."

The bottom line, under the CARES act, if you need COVID testing, there should not be any charges. Either your insurance should cover it or you should be able to get a test for free.

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