In tonight’s update there was a note in reference to the governor’s Tele Town Hall regarding free testing for adults. The 2-1-1 centers were notified this afternoon that free testing for adults is now available, but the daily 2-1-1 summary was sent out before word of the service reached me. Thank you to Jamie-Lee Venable at United Way of Genesee County and Sheryl Thompson at DHHS for identifying and confirming this new resource.
2-1-1 is working to identify any other locations that provide free lead testing for adult residents in Flint. Please contact tpage@uwmich.org if you have any updates or information on other options.
Thank you,
Tom Page, Michigan 2-1-1
Here are the particulars on the adult lead testing service:
The Health Department at its downtown McCree location on Saginaw St is offering FREE lead testing to adults who are unable to get one free of charge from their primary care. The state of Michigan is now covering the lab fees that were once charged at the health department. If the resident has health coverage it will bill the insurance but NO charges will be passed to the resident.
The 211 call center staff has this update – it just hadn’t made it up to Tom before the update went out. Sheryl Thompson and I confirmed immediately after the Town hall that the health department was not charging since the state started providing financial support for this issue. Once it was confirmed the 211 call center received all the information to begin referrals.
Message directly from Health Department:
The community lead testing events (like at schools and churches, etc.) are primarily for children 0 to <6. If children 6 to <18 show up, they can also receive blood lead tests. The same goes for blood lead testing being done at our Health Department Burton location. These tests are being done at no charge, however, we will bill insurance if the family has insurance.Adults should contact their primary care provider for lead testing. Adults without a primary care provider or adults who can not get a blood lead test at their doctor’s office can get a blood lead test at the Health Department’s Primary care clinic that is at our downtown, McCree building location. Adults getting tested at our Primary care clinic will not be charged but, if they have insurance, we will bill the insurance. The State has arranged to cover the lab test costs from our lab provider so the lab provider will no longer send bills for those tests.
