reporter: the white house promising eight test kits for every american for free. roughly 180 million americans have private insurance, sending 8 kits to each person would add up to 1.4 billion kits every month. blue cross blue shield tells nbc news this is not an easy task in such a tight time line we re also concerned that this will overburden retailers who are experiencing supply issues and workforce shortages. then there is the cost. there is no such thing as a free lunch. sort of like death and taxes. when insurers spend more on health care, they turn around and reserve them reporter: that means we are likely to all pay for it maybe next year? that s right. reporter: medicare isn t paying for at home tests local americans are encouraged to go to sites. though at many, lines are agonizingly long but with omicron leveling off, some infectious disease experts think the president s testing push may not be needed much longer.