Cut costs: after a record month of January, with nearly 46 million Covid tests, including more than 31 million antigens, the price of screening in pharmacies has been reduced by 20%.
The explosion in demand at the start of the year caused the bill for Social Security and households to soar.
The price paid by Health Insurance for “sampling and analysis” thus goes from 19 to 15 euros, to which is always added the flat rate of 5 euros for recording the result in the SIDEP computer file.
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The “sharp increase in the number of antigenic tests” linked to “the evolution of the epidemic situation” justified “to adjust the recovery parameters”, according to the decree published on Saturday in the Official Journal.
More self-tests in large areas
The government is also seeking to limit the cost for Social Security, while the bill is already estimated at 1.6 billion euros for January, almost the provision included in the budget for the whole of 2022.
The price drop also concerns self-tests, which can no longer be sold in supermarkets.
The restoration of the pharmacy monopoly is accompanied by a reduction of 20% to 35% of the unit price, from 5.20 to 4.10 euros for children and 3.35 euros for adults.
Wholesalers' prices are aligned ten cents below, reducing pharmacists' margins to a bare minimum.
A choice again justified by "the evolution of the selling prices of self-tests (...) and their sales volumes", according to the same decree.
