Many Americans Will Soon Have Access to At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Tests at No Cost

U.S. guidance announced on Monday recommends self-collection of samples to test for HPV, the virus that often causes cervical cancer. Private insurers must cover the costs of the swab kits by 2027

Sara Hashemi | Daily Correspondent

January 8, 2026

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For the first time, many people in the United States who should be screened for cervical cancer will have an alternative to the often dreaded pelvic exam.

Updated guidance released on January 5 by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) now includes an option for individuals ages 30 to 65 with an average risk for cervical cancer to collect their own samples. They can do that at home or in a health clinic using a tampon-like device that swabs the vagina, which was authorized in May by the Food and Drug Administration. Samples are then sent to a laboratory to get tested for high-risk versions of human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cells in the cervix to change in abnormal ways, possibly leading to cancer.

Private insurance companies must start covering the costs of at-home HPV screenings by January 1, 2027.

A person who receives positive HPV test results doesn’t necessarily have cervical cancer, but they are at an increased risk of developing the disease, because the pathogen causes nearly all cases of this cancer. In the United States last year, cervical cancer was diagnosed in more than 13,000 people and killed around 4,300 individuals.

Physicians “are hopeful this new screening option will increase screening rates and save lives,” Ann Sheehy, the HRSA’s chief medical officer, tells Liz Szabo at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Testing for HPV can save lives, and cervical cancer screening is commonly cited as a major public health success story. Over the past 50 years, incidence and death rates of the disease have fallen by more than 50 percent because of the Papanicolaou test—also known as the Pap smear, which looks for abnormal cells—and high-risk-HPV screening.

U.S. health guidance has traditionally recommended that people ages 21 to 65 with uteruses have one or both of the tests every three to five years. But approximately one in four individuals is not up to date on their screening, per an editorial on the new recommendations published January 5 in the journal JAMA. The rate drops even further in people of lower socioeconomic status or with fewer years of formal education. Regular screening can detect early signs of cervical cancer, when a person is most likely to survive the disease with proper treatment.

“The direct link between screening and survival illustrates a clear and urgent need to improve cervical cancer screening rates in the U.S.,” the editorial authors write. “New self-collection options approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provide an opportunity to do so.”

HRSA’s update now suggests that people ages 30 to 65 at average risk for cervical cancer get tested for HPV every five years, receive a Pap smear every three years or get both tests every five years. The recommendation for those ages 21 to 29 hasn’t changed; they should still receive a Pap smear every three years.

“These recommendations are designed to maximize the benefits of early detection while minimizing potential harms from over-screening and unnecessary procedures,” Robert Smith, senior vice president of early cancer detection science for the American Cancer Society, tells Aria Bendix at NBC News.

The self-administered collection device, called the Teal Wand, was developed by San Francisco-based health company Teal Health and is the only apparatus approved by the FDA for gathering samples for HPV testing at home. (Other self-swab devices have been green-lit for use in health care settings.)

To collect a sample, the Teal Wand is inserted into the vagina. Then, the user pushes a sponge out of the device—similar to a tampon—and rotates it using the long handle. The sponge gets pulled back into the wand, and the user removes the whole device from their body. After that, they take out the sponge and mail it to a lab within 24 hours. The entire process should take only a few minutes, and HPV results should come back around one week later, according to the company.

The authors of the JAMA editorial note that ongoing research is critical, both to assess the performance of these tests and to find new areas of innovation. They also emphasize that “this new guideline applies to women at average risk only.”

Sara Hashemi | Read More

Sara Hashemi is a science writer and fact-checker currently based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Sierra, The Body, Maisonneuve magazine and more.