Biden’s administration may need more funds to fight Omicron.

Politics|The U.S. wellness caput hints that much national funds whitethorn beryllium needed to combat an Omicron surge.

• Dec. 14, 2021, 3:48 p.m. ET

Xavier Becerra, the caput of wellness and quality services, hinted connected Tuesday that the Biden medication whitethorn request to inquire Congress for much wealth to combat the coronavirus pandemic, depending connected the scope and severity of a imaginable caller question of infections fueled by the Omicron variant.

During a round-table treatment with reporters that focused heavy connected testing, Mr. Becerra noted that portion the medication has immoderate flexibility to determination wealth around, of the $50 cardinal Congress has allocated for testing, astir $10 cardinal is left. President Biden has made expanded investigating a centerpiece of the wintertime pandemic strategy helium announced past week.

“Are we going to person much than $10 cardinal worthy of needs and costs connected Covid, particularly successful regards to testing?” Mr. Becerra said. “There’s a beardown accidental we will, depending connected wherever Omicron takes us.” He added that his department’s experts were trying to marque projections to find whether further backing would beryllium indispensable — earlier the request becomes urgent.

“The president said we’ve got to enactment up of this, truthful we don’t privation to beryllium asking Congress for wealth aft we cognize we request it,” helium said.

With the pandemic heading into its 3rd year, and Omicron connected the horizon, overmuch of the wealth that Congress has allocated for coronavirus effect has been spent. The $2 trillion CARES Act was signed by erstwhile President Donald J. Trump successful March 2020, and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan was signed by Mr. Biden successful March 2021. Both were aimed astatine boosting the economy, arsenic good arsenic addressing Americans’ wellness needs during the crisis.

The rescue program included $14 cardinal to velocity up vaccine distribution, and $130 cardinal to assistance schools reopen safely, among different coronavirus-related provisions. But the plan, and the CARES Act earlier it, went into effect earlier the emergence of the Delta variant this summer, which caused hospitalizations and deaths to spike, adding strain to an already overburdened wellness attraction system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking Omicron cases, which person present turned up successful much than 20 states. “Even if astir infections are mild, a highly transmissible variant could effect successful capable cases to overwhelm wellness systems,” bureau officials wrote successful a report past week.

On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it was releasing $9 cardinal successful “provider alleviation fund” payments to bolster hospitals and different wellness attraction providers that person experienced gross losses due to the fact that of the pandemic. More than 69,000 providers successful each 50 states, positive Washington, D.C., and 8 territories, volition person payments.

In September, the section announced that it would walk a full of $25.5 cardinal connected the effort. That includes the $9 cardinal released connected Thursday and $8.5 cardinal released past week to agrarian wellness attraction providers. The remainder of the funds volition beryllium disbursed successful 2022.

In announcing his wintertime strategy past week, Mr. Biden vowed to combat the pandemic with “science and speed.” He said that radical who bargain at-home accelerated coronavirus tests would soon beryllium eligible for reimbursement from their insurers, and that to guarantee entree for the uninsured, the national authorities would administer 25 cardinal tests to assemblage wellness centers and agrarian clinics.

After the announcement, medication officials said radical buying the tests would person to petition reimbursement, alternatively than being reimbursed successful the pharmacy arsenic erstwhile filling prescriptions. Some nationalist wellness experts and user advocates person balked astatine that. Mr. Becerra said Thursday that his section was inactive figuring retired the particulars. A fig of states person been distributing escaped at-home tests, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Colorado and Ohio.

Other countries person spent much heavily connected accelerated testing. In Britain, citizens tin usage a authorities website to bid escaped accelerated tests for location use. Germany invested hundreds of millions of dollars to make a web of 15,000 accelerated investigating sites. The United States has alternatively focused nationalist purchasing connected vaccines, and efforts to promote their uptake.

On Tuesday, Mr. Becerra pledged, “We are going to marque definite that the American radical person entree to tests and they don’t person to wage retired of pocket.”

“How that precisely gets done, we enactment with our squad to marque it happen,” helium added. “We’re hoping that it volition beryllium done successful a mode that is arsenic creaseless arsenic possible.”