Corona tests cost money from October. This particularly affects those receiving Hartz IV.
Frankfurt – The federal and state governments decided at the Corona summit that tests will no longer be subsidized from October 2021. On the one hand, this has the background to motivate more people to have a corona vaccination – according to Jens Spahn, only 62% of the population have been vaccinated for the first time – and on the other hand, the background to relieve the state treasury. The Rheinische Post reports that the federal government has already spent 3.7 billion on test subsidies in 2021. From autumn, corona tests will only be free of charge for children, pregnant women and people who cannot be vaccinated against Sars-CoV-2 for medical reasons.
Citizens who receive Hartz IV are probably hit hardest by this regulation. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health emphasized on Wednesday (August 11th, 2021) that nobody could definitely say how expensive corona tests will be in the future. That will be decided “on the free market”. Before the “citizen tests” became free in March, a quick test at the family doctor cost between 15 and 25 euros and at the pharmacy 29 euros. Test stations usually charge between 30 and 50 euros for a rapid antigen test. According to the Techniker Krankenkasse, the current price for a PCR test is 35 euros. However, the prices vary from test center to test center, it is said. For Hartz IV recipients, this is a lot of money – regardless of fluctuations.
Hartz IV: No assumption of costs for corona tests
A possible assumption of costs for the corona tests is probably not intended for Hartz IV recipients. This is criticized. Politicians from the opposition in particular criticize this development. Katja Kipping, member of the Bundestag of the Left, told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung: “Jens Spahn carries this out on the back of the poor who are worried about getting through the month.” Janosch Dahmen, member of the Bundestag for the Greens and himself a doctor, emphasized in the ARD that this debate is premature: More than 30 million people are currently unvaccinated, said Dahmen. Making corona rapid tests chargeable as early as autumn is “not only unfair, but above all bad because it puts us in another blind flight in the pandemic,” said Dahmen.
For people who receive Hartz IV, the way out of the financing difficulties of Test is likely to be a vaccination against the coronavirus. The federal and state governments also decided at the summit that those who have been completely vaccinated and those who have recovered from an infection do not have to submit any tests for participation in cultural life.
Thomas Kaspar, editor-in-chief of the Frankfurter Rundschau, calls the end of the free corona tests for unvaccinated people “a completely wrong signal”. (do)
