In the early days of the pandemic, many places required you to visit their doctor to get a prescription for a test before they would test you. When I caught CO

In the early days of the pandemic, many places required you to visit their doctor to get a prescription for a test before they would test you. When I caught COVID very early on, I was stuck in this boat -- I was sick with a moderate respiratory illness and I was afraid to be around anybody in case I killed them (and also I was terrified of what might happen to me -- at that time, there weren't that many well-publicized mild cases). But, I couldn't find a test that I could get on short notice. All the "testing centers" had weeks-long waiting lists for tests. But my friendly neighborhood urgent care would give me a same day appointment (test results in 3-5 days). I drove to the clinic, sat in my car outside, did a virtual doctor visit where I described my symptoms, they approved the test, and sent a nurse in many masks to come administer the test car-side. By executive order, the test itself was free to me (if I presented an insurance card, they could bill the insurance, if I was a "cash patient" it had to be actually free) but they could and did charge their usual price for the doctor's visit. At the time, my employer had a special covid-response program where virtual doctor visits were all covered 100% so it cost me nothing anyway, but the clinic did bill my employer for the visit (and the test).