Corona rapid tests: Less money, more control

According to information from WDR, NDR and SZ, the Federal Ministry of Health no longer wants to finance all free citizen tests from July. In addition, the countries should participate and controls should be strengthened.

The free corona tests were supposed to end at the end of June. The benefit of the tests for containing the pandemic now seems questionable, and they are also extremely expensive: the federal government has now spent more than ten billion euros on the free citizen tests – and presumably also financed numerous fraudsters. Several hundred investigations are being carried out nationwide against operators of test centers, investigators assume damage from invented tests of more than one billion euros.

However, in their meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on June 2nd, the Prime Ministers asked the government to “ensure the financing of the free citizen tests beyond June 30th, 2022”, as the decision states.

Put an end to the “gold rush mood”

According to information from WDR, NDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the Ministry of Health is now planning to continue the citizen tests from July 1st – albeit in a different form and with more controls. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) at least promises that the waste of tax money should now be over. In addition, the operators of the private stations should in future receive less than the previous 11.50 euros per test. And no more new test operators should be allowed. “Cheating should no longer be worthwhile,” according to government circles. The current “gold rush mood” must finally come to an end.

Some federal states such as Baden-Württemberg can also imagine that only doctors or pharmacists and not everyone should operate a rapid test center as before. “Due to the falling numbers and the summer months, I would advocate that we gradually hand over the testing to professional hands again and get away from lay tests by private sector non-specialist providers. That would save the federal government a lot of money and reduce abuse,” says the im Stuttgarter Uwe Lahl, the head of the ministry responsible for combating pandemics.

Countries require planning security

The health ministries of the federal states should agree with most of the innovations when they meet next week in Magdeburg for a conference with Lauterbach. Except for one point: the federal government apparently no longer wants to finance the tests alone; the states should also pay and bear half of the costs.

On request, the Ministry of Health only states that the federal government is negotiating “the content of a new test regulation”. The ministry does not give details. However, some cornerstones can be heard in government circles and from the federal states. In the future, only so-called “vulnerable” groups of people may be able to be tested at the expense of the state. These could be older people or patients with a limited immune system, who would be particularly at risk if they were infected with the corona virus.

However, the negotiations within the federal government have not yet been completed. In view of the high national debt, the Ministry of Finance headed by Christian Lindner (FDP) is apparently pushing to spend significantly less money on the quick tests.

Like Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria has repeatedly asked the federal government to clarify the testing options in autumn and winter 2022. “It is high time that the federal government gave us states planning security. June 30 is just around the corner and we still have no details about the federal government’s plans. That is completely incomprehensible,” said Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU ).

Controls only introduced after suspicion of fraud

In March 2021, Lauterbach’s predecessor Jens Spahn (CDU), in consultation with the coalition partner at the time and the federal states, introduced the tests, which were paid for by the state and were free of charge for the citizens. In the middle of the Corona wave at the time, this should prevent further strict restrictions. The motto was that people should be able to “test themselves free”.

Initially, controls by the private test operators were not planned at all. That only changed when WDR, NDR and SZ reported on the “Medican” case. The test center operator from Bochum has been in custody for more than a year and has admitted to having billed for invented tests. The damage is said to be 25 million euros in this case alone.

Health insurance companies earn with

The media reports and the investigations led to Spahn revising his test regulation and introducing controls. But they were so lax that cheating apparently continued happily. There were always new suspected cases. The investigations piled up, some suspects were taken into custody. The State Criminal Police Office in Berlin assumes a high number of unreported cases and nationwide damage of one to one and a half billion euros.

According to the investigators, one of the basic problems is that the associations of statutory health insurance physicians, which are responsible for billing control, earn money from every quick test. You may keep 3.5 percent of the billed amount. If they discover many invented tests, their income will shrink as a result – a conflict of interest that the Ministry of Health has so far ignored.

It is not yet clear how Lauterbach will solve this dilemma. According to reports, more and stricter samples are planned in the new test regulation. It remains to be seen how far-reaching the new measures will be and whether they will be sufficient to largely eliminate fraud. The federal government wants to hear from government circles that the federal states do not only “oblige” when it comes to money. But also at the controls. In any case, there will be plenty to talk about when Federal Minister of Health Lauterbach meets his colleagues from the federal states next week.