Corona – No agreement on free antigen tests in sight

Since April, the federal government has no longer covered the costs; the aim was to find a solution via social insurance. This was announced for mid-April, but the Medical Association and social insurance have not yet been able to reach an agreement. According to the ÖGK, negotiations are currently on hold.

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In cases of suspected corona, tests in doctor’s offices were free for those affected until the end of March, with the federal government covering the costs until then. A positive corona test is a prerequisite for high-risk patients to be entitled to the antiviral drug Paxlovid. The prescription of this drug is linked to a positive test. On April 2, the chairman of the Conference of Social Insurance Institutions, Peter Lehner, announced to the APA after a round of negotiations with the Medical Association that a solution would be presented “in around 14 days”.

Far from a solution

Now, almost two months later, we are still a long way from this. In response to an APA query, the Medical Association said that there had been further discussions with the health insurance company, but that no solution was on the table.

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The social insurance company blames the Medical Association for this: The Association demanded 25 euros per test. “We find this disproportionate because the antigen tests are not incredibly expensive and because they do not take that much time,” said a spokeswoman for the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK). “The offer would have been eight euros. Plus – if the test is positive and this Paxlovid prescription is issued – 17 euros on top. Then they would have come up with the 25 euros.”

However, the Medical Association has “not backed down” from its demands and has recommended that its members pay for the antigen test swabs privately. According to the data from the ÖGK, however, this is unlikely to happen very often at the moment, as the currently comparatively low number of cases is pointed out.

“Not in the interest of the patients”

At the moment, there are “no negotiations” due to the recommendation of the Medical Association to charge for the tests privately. This is “not in the interest of the patients, we would like to reach an agreement,” said the ÖGK spokeswoman. However, the social insurance has to budget its expenses, so “not every request can be fulfilled,” she said, justifying the rejection of the Medical Association’s fee demand. There is currently “no prospect of a solution.”