Those who had stockpiled self-tests in the perspective of the end of reimbursement for Covid screenings will find themselves stuck in the water. This Friday evening, the Ministry of Solidarity and Health published a press release describing the changes related to the evolution of the coverage of coronavirus screening tests from October 15.
Indeed, from next Friday, PCR and antigen tests will no longer be systematically covered by Health Insurance as was the case since the start of the health crisis. The government is thus announcing a change for self-tests.
Those carried out under the supervision of a health professional will no longer be recognized as proof for the health pass, as could be the case until now. “This device had indeed been deployed temporarily during the summer, in order to support the extension of the use of the health pass”, justifies the ministry.
Self-tests carried out without supervision “remain accessible for individual monitoring but will still not give access to the health pass”, also write Olivier Véran’s teams. PCR or antigenic tests will continue to make it possible to obtain a health pass. Just like a complete vaccination schedule.
The tests remain free in Guyana, Martinique in Mayotte and in Guadeloupe
The ministry also recalls under what conditions certain tests can continue to be reimbursed. These are minors, vaccinated, with a medical prescription, recovered from the coronavirus or identified through contact-tracing.
To be able to continue to benefit from these free tests, eligible persons must present one of the supporting documents from the following list: a certificate of vaccination, vaccination contraindication or recovery, an identity document for minors, proof of risky contact (email or SMS) sent by Health Insurance or finally a medical prescription issued by a doctor or a midwife, valid for 48 hours and non-renewable ”.
The ministry however specifies a handful of particularities for the overseas territories, “in order to take into account the specificities of these territories”. Thus, in Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe, the end of free tests will come on the date of the end of the state of health emergency. In Mayotte, the device for the end of reimbursement of tests will not apply for the moment “because of the fragility of the local screening system”.
For all other French, the tests will be paid. The ministry has also unveiled, still in the same press release, the prices per cent for each test. For PCR tests, carried out by medical biology laboratories, the reference price will be 43.89 euros, “identical to that currently covered by Health Insurance”, the press release said. The price of antigenic tests may vary depending on where they will be performed and the professional who will be responsible for them. It will be between 22.02 euros in the laboratory and 45.11 euros for a doctor (consultation included).
The aim of these new measures is also to push the French to be vaccinated, while 7.5 million of them, eligible, have still not received a first dose. More than 150 million tests have been carried out since the start of the epidemic in France, in March 2020.