Walking Dead star Daniel Newman owes thousands for a coronavirus test that was never processed
Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman leapfrogged around emergency rooms attempting to acquire a coronavirus testing kit despite showing symptoms. (Instagram)
Walking Dead star Daniel Newman was finally given a coronavirus test after imperious weeks of leapfrogging emergency rooms with suspected symptoms, but the results never came.
In fact, Newman’s test was never even processed. What did arrive, however, was a medical bill for $9,116.
Last month the actor, who played Kingdom member Daniel, detailed in a lengthy Instagram post the trials of trying to get tested for coronavirus.
Newman explained that eventually doctors urged him to come and get swabbed, but after conducting the test they were unable to process it.
“I started to get a fever, just started to feel kind of chills, and I was just like: ‘Oh crap, you know, whatever they had, I think I got it,'” the 38-year-old told CBS News.
https://twitter.com/DanielNewman/status/1245577675596431361
Daniel Newman slapped with bill totalling more than $9,000 for unprocessed coronavirus test.
After calling around, an emergency room clinician told him to stop by and get tested.
But after being swabbed, the doctor said: “We are not allowed to process the test because there’s a really limited bandwidth of capacity on how many tests can be processed per day.
“And so we’re not allowed to send off the tests for anybody that has mild symptoms.”
Yet, when Newman asked if he would be charged for a test unable to be processed, it was a firm yes.
“And they were like: ‘No, you just came into an emergency room, it’s gonna be thousands of dollars,'” he said, capturing the topsy-turvy situation of an American health system not prepared or suited for a pandemic which many celebrities have increasingly become vocal about.
“That, not even on a personal level, on a humanitarian level, that infuriates me,” he added.
“The fact that no one can afford this. How can a family of two or four kids afford even one person at $9,000, much less four people?”
Wait, aren’t coronavirus tests free now in the US?
Under legislation passed by Congress last month, testing for the coronavirus is free. Costs for a doctor’s trip and the emergency room to get the test are also free.
But Newman sought medical help before insurers began making coronavirus tests free in an effort to minimise out-of-pocket costs during the pandemic.
As a result, his insurance company refused to cover the cost.
State insurance regulators have taken steps to limit how much patients might eventually owe, and insurance companies and employers have also changed rules for most healthcare plans to eliminate deductibles or co-payments for testing.
Daniel Newman. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)
While some insurers are waiving co-pays, experts warn that the hefty bill looming over ordinary Americans may put them off from seeking out tests, a warning that Newman echoed.
“We have to start mass testing everyone for free, tracing and notifying everyone exposed, quarantining them, and giving our healthcare workers the equipment they need immediately,” he told LGBTQ Nation.
“It’s the only thing that is working in China and South Korea and the United States is not doing it and it is going to kill potentially millions of us.”
