Free corona rapid tests will soon be largely a thing of the past. The question of price arises: How expensive is the smear? Ask someone who should know.
There was a lot of argument in the so-called MPK, the conference of prime ministers, when it comes to the future course in the fight against the corona virus. On Tuesday, the federal and state governments agreed that there are difficult weeks ahead that you want to be prepared for.
Vacationers come home, schools start, new infections rise. At the same time, the vaccination campaign comes to a standstill, and the squat contagious Delta variant continues to spread.
Therefore, the Federal Chancellor and heads of states have that free corona rapid tests should be abolished as far as possible. The goal: to encourage more people to get vaccinations free of charge. The result: From October 11th, the so-called “citizen tests” will only be free for people who cannot be vaccinated or for whom there is no general vaccination recommendation, such as pregnant women or those under the age of 18.
As an explanation, the federal and state government literally states:
Since a direct vaccination offer can now be made to all citizens, a permanent assumption of the costs for all tests by the federal government and thus the taxpayer is not advisable.
This raises the question of the price: How expensive is the Corona rapid test?
Inquiry from Marcus Reisiger, who runs the private test center in Hamburg. “There will certainly be a price war among the centers,” he says to the stern.
An invoice that has to be worth it
First of all, the decision means “the end of our current business model”, explains the test center operator, and confronts him with the “difficult decision whether and how the operation of the test center will then be worthwhile”.
Background: So far, operators of test centers for reimbursement have reported their numbers, i.e. how many people have tested them, to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. It also states how much money was spent on the tests. There are different tests at different prices and of different quality.
“Currently the amount of the reimbursement is 11.50 euros per test,” calculates Reisiger. “This sum is made up of a maximum of 3.50 euros for the test kit and eight euros for the implementation.” This is already worthwhile “only if the center is well utilized”. While the acquisition costs of the test kits continued to fall – “which unfortunately was not very conducive to the quality requirements,” says Reisiger – the fixed costs of the centers remained unchanged. The key words: wages and salaries, rents, fees for software and data protection, hygiene material, insurance.
“In any case, the costs for a paid test must and will be a lot higher than the 11.50 euros now reimbursed by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians,” says Reisiger. “Because the demand will fall again significantly and this has a strong effect on the calculation of the unit costs.” For their own center, it is assumed that “the price will be less than 20 euros”. At least that is the goal so that the test remains affordable for as many people as possible.
Different types of rapid tests, differences in the size of the test centers and the number of employees: Ultimately, the price per test will vary from center to center. “There will certainly be a price war among the centers that will be even more intense than it was before the introduction of the free tests at the beginning of the year,” predicts Reisiger. “There were offers of 29 to 49 euros for a rapid antigen test.”
As a result, Reisiger believes that there will probably be “a further market adjustment of the test centers”. Which one cannot use in the current situation: “I am concerned that more and more cases of vaccination breakthroughs are being detected, whereby a vaccinated person can also infect an unvaccinated person,” said Reisiger. “That means that here – as with the large vaccination centers – capacities will be reduced, which we will need for a few more months this autumn and winter.”
“Test centers no longer on every street corner”
Martin Walger also assumes that the number of test centers will continue to decrease in the course of the resolutions. He is the managing director of the Association of the Diagnostics Industry (VDGH) and thus a representative of the test manufacturers. “Test centers will no longer be on every street corner, but in every district,” said Walger on Wednesday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk.
There will be a noticeable “decrease in the need” for corona rapid tests, but: “Overall, the need for various test variants will remain high”. There are still groups of people who could take a free corona test. Employers, for example, are still obliged to make a corresponding offer to employees.
However, Walger assumes a different price per test. His “rough estimate”: eight to ten euros per test to finance the test material and the acceptance in the test center. But: “Anyone who has symptoms or thinks they are ill should go to the doctor,” remembers Walger, “because there, of course, because of their health insurance, they are entitled to a corresponding medical diagnosis with a PCR test. That is the gold standard . Of course, this is also an option for further testing. “
(10. August 2021),
