The tests will continue to be reimbursed for medical reasons, without prescription for the people already vaccinated, or on prescription for others. Free free should also be maintained for minors.
Le Monde
Announced in July by Emmanuel Macron, the measure was confirmed last week by the Prime Minister, Jean Castex: from October 15, CVIV-19 screening tests will no longer be refunded except for medical motive or for People vaccinated. Their cost is now known, according to the information obtained by Le Monde with the Ministry of Health, Thursday, October 7:
- 43.89 euros for a PCR test;
- 22 euros for a laboratory antigenic test, 25 euros in pharmacy (30 euros on Sundays).
The tests will continue to be reimbursed for medical reasons, without prescription for the people already vaccinated, or on prescription for others. Free free should also be maintained for minors.
Initially announced to push for vaccination, this decision also responds to economic considerations: “it is no longer legitimate to pay outstanding comfort tests at taxpayers’ expenses,” justified Jean Castex. Until now France was one of the few countries in the world not to demand symptoms or be a contact case to fully refund PCR tests. A policy that has a cost: 6.2 billion euros this year.
Since the beginning of July, except for medical reasons, the tests have already become paid for foreign tourists coming in France: they must now pay 43.89 euros for a PCR test, 25 euros for an antigenic test. “The logic is to repay tests related to truly medical reasons, and to continue to be vaccinated,” the Prime Minister insisted.
While the population is, for nearly three quarters, totally vaccinated, it remains potentially 6 million adults to convince. Gold Press for non-vaccinated tests could encourage them to take the footstep if they want to benefit from the existing healthcare.
The reverse of the medal is that there will be “probably fewer positive people who will be tested,” warned epidemiologist Pascal Crepey. With a rebound risk of the outbreak on the arrival of autumn, it is not certain that this policy is “tenable”, he considers.
A decision “to Double cutting edge “
According to the departmental data, the number of tests carried out has declined each week since a peak in mid-August, from 5.7 million tests at that date at 3.6 million week of the 20th. September.
With the advertised landing, some fear an inequality of access to care: “Only those who can pay it will continue to test”, warns the Infectiologist Gilles Pialoux. “Until October 15, the perspective of this district may act like a slight incentive to vaccination, judges for its part Mahmoud Zureik, professor of epidemiology at the University of Versailles – Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines . But then, access to differential care between vaccinated and non-vaccinated risks promoting the diffusion of the virus. It is double-edged. “
If the epidemiologist considers normal that “the comfort tests are no longer reimbursed, because we were in excess and there were abuses”, restrict their access, according to him, of risks. “One will no longer be able to follow the evolution of the epidemic properly because the incidence rate, one of the earliest indicators, will be affected,” he says. [But] the major risk is that The need for medical prescription dissuades people who have symptoms or who are contact cases to be tested. Moreover, the time to get a prescription leaves the virus time to spread. “
For others, it’s all the tests of tests that must be brought back to the bottom: “We wasted a quantity of incredible money in testing while letting the virus circulate because there was No strategy for these tests, “says Catherine Hill, epidemiologist at the Gustave-Roussy Institute. According to her, it has never been possible to raise all cases of COVID-19. “[Since the beginning of the epidemic], we have always tested no matter how,” she deplores. To change the deal, it would now be necessary to “make grouped tests: for example in all classes of France twice a week,” she says.