Berlin In an internal report, the Court of Auditors accuses the Federal Ministry of Health of being sloppy with taxpayers’ money in the corona tests during the pandemic. In the letter that is available to the Handelsblatt, the authority reports “structural procedural deficiencies”.
The free citizen tests caused billions in costs, at the same time there was a lack of “control options by the federal government.” In addition, there was no “clear legal basis” for the expenditure, which according to the Social Security Code was actually only limited to the year 2021.
The Court of Auditors refers to figures from the Federal Social Security Office, according to which the state already spent 9.2 billion euros on tests between July 2021 and February 2022, of which 3.4 billion euros for citizen tests.
The test centers settle their costs for citizen tests on the basis of flat rates with the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV). In return, the KVs receive compensation for their administrative costs.
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The Court of Auditors criticizes: “The Federal Ministry of Health was neither informed about the actual expenditure of the KVs nor about the results of the accounting audits.”
Test center fraud
The house of Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) must therefore be “informed at regular intervals about the results of the accounting audits and any abnormalities found.” A “reporting obligation” by the KVs to the ministry is recommended. Lauterbach’s ministry apparently already held out the prospect of working out a better procedure with the KVs.
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The Court of Auditors also refers to the numerous abuses by test centers through “inaccurate numbers” about tests that may have been billed incorrectly as a result. The Minister of Health reacted to this in July 2021 with a lower flat rate, which was reduced to eight euros. However, the Court of Auditors criticized: “The Federal Ministry of Health could not prove a conclusive calculation of the flat rate.”
There were also “no comprehensible justifications” for the amount of the flat-rate fee for material costs introduced at the same time and its increase for the period from the beginning of December 2021 to the end of January 2022.
With a view to the billions in costs, the flat rates would have to be calculated “on the basis of reliable analyses” on record, it is said. According to the Court of Auditors’ report, Lauterbach’s ministry pointed out in this context that a differentiated calculation requires a “regular empirical data basis” that can only be built up over the long term.
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