On Monday, the White House also stated that there is no limit to the number of COVID-19 tests, including at-home tests, that insurers must cover if ordered or administered by a health care provider.
The measures are part of President Joe Biden's effort to make testing more widely available to Americans dealing with an increase in coronavirus cases caused by the highly infectious Omicron variant.
In a December speech, Biden outlined plans to distribute 500 million at-home coronavirus test kits and establish new federal testing sites to supplement the 20,000 already in place. However, experts slammed the announcement as "too little, too late" in the face of nationwide testing shortages.
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated that Americans should be able to order the tests online later this month, and that all contracts for 500 million rapid tests should be awarded within the next two weeks. The first two contracts were signed last week, and two more were announced on Monday.
According to the administration's insurer coverage plan, insurers are still required to reimburse tests purchased by consumers outside of their network at a rate of up to $12 per individual test.
It was unclear what incentives were offered to insurers in exchange for agreeing to the plan. A request for comment from the Department of Health and Human Services was not immediately returned.
The Defense Department announced on Monday that it had awarded contracts to Atlantic Trading, LLC of Austin, Texas, and Medea Inc. of Pleasanton, California, for a total of 27 million at-home test kits.
According to a White House official, the contract awards bring the total number of test kits ordered to more than 50 million.