Every week, the Health Insurance spends 88 million euros to carry out more than a million PCR tests. The deficit of the National Health Insurance Fund should continue to widen, while this massive screening policy seems ineffective.
- Since mid-March, 12 million PCR tests have been fully reimbursed by Health Insurance at a cost of 883 million euros.
- In addition to this, the public also funds prescription serological tests, outpatient Covid-19 screening centers and teleconsultations. The overall envelope amounts to 917 million euros and could reach 1.6 billion by the end of the year.
How much does free Covid-19 testing cost? A pit in state finances. From mid-March to the beginning of September, 12 million checks were carried out. At the rate of a reimbursement of €73.59 per PCR test, the massive screening policy has already cost France 883 million euros, i.e. almost all the reimbursements for care made by health centers at the national level. in 2017. Just for the first week of September, when 1.19 million PCR tests were taken care of, the bill amounts to 88 million euros, a little more than the purchase of a Rafale . The director of the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM), Thomas Fatome, said in an interview with Echoes, that the tests carried out in the city will cost 1.6 billion euros this year. This sum is greater than the entire budget planned in 2020 for the financing of sport, youth and associative life as well as the 2024 Olympic Games.
However, the bill for the National Health Insurance Fund could increase. Serological tests for detecting antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 with a prescription, procedures and services performed in outpatient centers dedicated to Covid-19 – including 20 new units will open in Île-de-France – consultations carried out following the positive screening of the infected policyholder, the search for “contact tracing” and teleconsultations are also reimbursed by the community. The overall bill currently stands at 917 million euros.
Efficiency questioned
This reimbursement, set at €73.59 per PCR test, was set during negotiations between Health Insurance and the professional unions. A sum significantly higher than that reimbursed by our European neighbors. Germany reimburses €50.50, Italy on average €59 and Spain between €30 and €45. According to The Parisian, French analysis laboratories have invested little in advanced equipment. Is it up to the public to allow private companies to invest and make their risk-taking profitable? The newspaper claims to have solicited the directors of the General Directorate of Health and Health Insurance, in vain. However, still according to our colleagues, it is up to private laboratories “to only buy from four manufacturers (out of 187), [ils] limited the number of approved platforms to 70 [sites de traitement des analyses dépendant des laboratoires,NDLR] to analyze the samples from the 900 existing ones, before allowing everyone to test themselves…”
However, pushing the French to get tested seems counterproductive. Today, the analysis laboratories are close to saturation, the queues last for hours and the results often arrive much too late to be relevant. The new boss of the National Health Insurance Fund wants complementary health insurance to contribute to the national effort to the tune of one billion euros. The government is trying to streamline access to screening by creating priority access for symptomatic people, medical personnel and contact cases.
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