I thought it was specifically not supposed to happen
if you go to the emergency room of a public hospital they're supposed to treat you no matter what, then bill you after.
as you can see from the story, he went to an urgent care clinic, which is usually a significantly cheaper option than the ER for people w/o insurance.
they redirected him to the local public hospital ER. should they have done the the right thing and treated him? of course.
but it's America, things like that always happen. it's a fucked-up place with an insanely terrible health care system.
afaik there's still no official govt policy for paying for COVID tests/care for people w/o insurance, or things insurance won't cover
a member of the House of Reps got the CDC director to commit to that a few weeks ago, but that's not an actual policy with a mechanism for action