How asymptomatic celebrities, athletes, and billionaires are getting tested for the coronavirus when you can't (Business Insider, 3/19/2020)
* Celebrities and the ultrawealthy appear to have better access to tests for the novel coronavirus than ordinary Americans, and that's likely because they're hiring concierge doctors to ship their nasal swabs to private labs.
* The US is experiencing a shortage of tests for the virus, meaning that any tests given to the 1% reduce access for most Americans.
* President Trump addressed the apparent inequalities in testing at a press conference on Wednesday, saying that "perhaps that's been the story of life."
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[Idris Elba] — like Kris Jenner, those NBA players, and other celebrities who have been able to get tested before showing symptoms — similarly most likely bypassed the CDC's testing requirements and backlog by using private labs to facilitate the coronavirus tests. Some wealthy people have hired concierge doctors to collect nasal swabs and blood samples in their homes to send out to private labs for testing.
While the federal government has made tests for the novel coronavirus free for all Americans, a test from a private lab may come at a steep cost. David Nazarian, a UCLA-trained concierge doctor who has tested patients for the virus, said that the coronavirus tests would cost "hundreds of dollars" — in addition to his regular fee.
Still, the doctors fielding requests for the coronavirus tests from wealthy patients aren't immune to public concerns about the well-off receiving priority treatment. The labs "are overwhelmed," Sari Eitches, another Los Angeles-based concierge physician, told Business Insider. "That's where the ethics of this comes into play, because I do have a lot of patients who naturally want to be tested just to be sure. [But] if we don't have enough lab employees to read the tests for everybody, we really do have to start triaging now. We have to make that decision. Are we going to triage based on your access due to your socioeconomic status?"