Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (59, SPD) has apparently changed his mind.
So far, in the Corona fall, he wanted to rely on the free (for the citizens) rapid corona tests again. Problem: The test regulation expires next week and the budget holders of the Bundestag have put a stop to further financing!
So far, the federal government had paid for all free tests. According to the householders’ decision, the federal government should only pay for tests that it itself makes mandatory (e.g. in old people’s homes and clinics). Instead, the countries should pay but they resist.
► True to the motto: If Lauterbach wants tests, he should also pay for them.
DAS has apparently caused the minister to rethink. As the Editorial Network Germany (RND) reported that there should no longer be nationwide free citizen tests for everyone!
“Lauterbach only wants to make it possible for people with corona symptoms and also for certain groups of people. There should be preventive tests in nursing homes and hospitals, and small children and people with many contacts, for example before a major event, should also have the opportunity to take a citizen test,” RND quotes from a strategy paper by the Ministry of Health.
In addition, people with “a contraindication to vaccination”, such as pregnant women in the first three months of their pregnancy, should continue to have the option of a free test. Lauterbach also wants to continue to make free quick tests possible for refugees from Ukraine, as well as people in corona hotspots.
After a positive quick test, citizens should still have access to a PCR test.
BUT: The federal government wants to pay the test centers less money per antigen rapid test and PCR test for the citizens in the future. “The overall costs are to be reduced by about half,” writes the ministry in its strategy paper.
According to the paper, the revision of the test regulation should take place by the end of June.