corona pandemic
Report sees possible waste of billions in PCR tests
Currently, 32.39 euros have to be paid for a PCR test. photo
© Marijan Murat/dpa
Anyone who had to know exactly what Corona had in the past three years needed a PCR test. The state and health insurance companies have spent a lot of money on the “gold standard” test – much more than necessary?
According to a media report, the state and health insurance companies may have spent far too much money on PCR tests in the past three years. According to research by WDR, NDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, it was a total of six billion euros.
The report by the research association suggests that the reimbursement prices for the laboratories for PCR tests carried out could have been significantly too high, especially in the initial phase of the corona pandemic. The FDP called for a committee of inquiry. The Federal Ministry of Health pointed out that the prices had been lowered several times in the meantime.
According to the report, the price that laboratories could charge for a PCR test at the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020 was 59 euros. At that time, Jens Spahn (CDU) was Federal Minister of Health. The prices are set out in the applicable coronavirus test regulation. The Federal Ministry of Health is responsible for this. According to the regulation, which has since been amended several times, the price for a PCR test is currently 32.39 euros.
In the case of laws or ordinances, the relevant associations are always involved and can make criticism or suggest changes. In the case of the corona tests, these were the players in the healthcare system, such as doctor representatives, laboratories and health insurance companies.
Were the material costs set too high?
According to research by WDR, NDR and Süddeutscher, material costs may have been set far too high when negotiating prices for PCR tests. In May 2020, medical representatives put these at 22.02 euros, although PCR tests were also available on the open market for four to seven euros. Spahn’s ministry “apparently” did not determine actual market prices at the time. The research relates to “more than 1,000 pages” of internal files from the health and economic ministries and other confidential documents.
The health insurance companies therefore pushed for lower prices and also expressed doubts about “surprisingly high additional costs”, such as personnel costs. “The price expectations of the laboratory physicians for PCR tests were massively inflated from the start” and could not have been lowered sufficiently even after negotiations with the health insurance companies, said Carola Reimann, Chairwoman of the AOK Federal Association.
The responsible interest group of the laboratories initially did not comment. A spokesman for the Association of Accredited Laboratories in Medicine (ALM) said they are working on a statement that will be published shortly.
“There was a very strong increase in demand”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said that Spahn’s successor Karl Lauterbach (SPD) took countermeasures when he took office. The test remuneration has been adjusted several times. But he also added: “Back then, the aim was to test as many people as possible using PCR within the shortest possible time. There was a very strong increase in demand that the offer could not meet”, so capacities could have been built up in a very short time must.
The health policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Tino Sorge, said on Deutschlandfunk: “It’s always easy to say afterwards what could have been done better beforehand.” It was about testing quickly and extensively, creating test capacities and encouraging actors to offer and carry out these tests. “And that you could have paid for it differently or cheaper, now it shows in the aftermath.”
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai called for an investigation committee in the Bundestag to investigate the matter. The revelations could not remain without consequences, he told the German Press Agency. “In addition to the mask deals from politicians from the CDU and CSU, the far too high PCR prices now apparently represent another legal low point in pandemic policy, for which the Union has to take responsibility.”
Criticism also came from the German Foundation for Patient Protection. The healthcare industry understands how to toughly assert its interests at the expense of taxpayers, insured persons and patients, said board member Eugen Brysch of the dpa. “It’s about time that the head of the Federal Ministry of Health finally made itself the guardian of the citizens.”