DHHS buyback of more than 36,000 unsold COVID tests approved

In February 2022, when COVID-19 tests were hard to come by, the state began selling them in its nearly 70 liquor stores for $11.29 each. About 200,000 were sold, according to Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Jake Leon.

The department received permission Wednesday from the Executive Council to use about $410,700 in federal pandemic aid to buy back 36,523 unsold tests from the New Hampshire Liquor Commission and redistribute them.

Free at-home, over-the-counter tests have become harder to come by since the end of the federal public health emergency May 11, when insurance companies and Medicare stopped reimbursing their members and enrollees for the cost of tests. They will cover at least some of the cost for medically necessary tests ordered by a provider.

Leon said the department has made or will be making the more than 36,500 tests from the liquor commission and an additional 730,000 tests available to schools, libraries, municipalities, health care organizations, senior centers, regional public health networks, and other public access points.

Leon provided a list of nearly 80 locations across the state that may have tests.

The department partnered with the liquor stores in late December 2021 to expand access to tests after it saw 850,000 free tests go in 24 hours. 

In a letter to the Executive Council, Lori Weaver, interim Health and Human Services commissioner, said interest in those tests declined as they became more readily available at pharmacies and online.