Stores raise prices of COVID test kits as they remain hard to find

COVID test prices increase at Walmart, Kroger as at-home rapid tests remain hard to find COVID-19 at-home tests are hard to find and now Abbott's BinaxNOW kits cost more at Walmart and Kroger. Kelly Tyko USA TODAY

Home COVID-19 at-home test kits will cost more – if you can find them.

Walmart, Kroger and Amazon had been selling over-the-counter tests "at cost" with a discount of up to 35% from retail prices for the last three months as part of a deal with the Biden administration.

Walmart said in a statement to USA TODAY that the program ended in mid-December, but that it held the price of the Abbott BinaxNOW kits at $14 through the holidays. The price increased to $19.88 on Tuesday for the two-test kits.

At Kroger, the price of the two-test BinaxNOW antigen kits is now $23.99.

“We fulfilled our commitment to the Biden Administration to sell at cost for 100 days and that pricing program has now phased out and retail pricing has been reinstated,” Kroger said in a statement to USA TODAY.  ...