Nearly two years after the WHO lifted the global state of emergency, the French government on Friday announced the end of reimbursement for rapid Covid tests in pharmacies, an announcement that is causing concern for pharmacists.
In a message sent to AFP, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) announced that it plans to no longer reimburse rapid Covid-19 screening tests carried out in pharmacies once the winter epidemics have passed.
"Pharmacists will be able to continue to perform Trod (rapid diagnostic orientation tests, editor's note) Covid tests in pharmacies, as well as provide self-tests, at the request of patients, but these will no longer be covered by health insurance," indicates this entity of the Ministry of Health.
Covid-19 antigen tests are the only ones that detect acute respiratory infections to be reimbursed today (16.50 euros), and with them the combined Covid/flu and Covid/RSV tests, the virus that causes bronchiolitis.
These Trods complement RT-PCR tests to detect Covid-19 infection.
For vulnerable people at risk of developing a severe form, such as the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, "the use of a Covid-19 RT-PCR test is recommended to confirm the virus in question" but, the DGS warns that "a medical prescription is "necessary" for reimbursement.
– Angina tests remain reimbursed –
On the other hand, rapid tests that check the bacterial or viral nature of tonsillitis, carried out in pharmacies, "have been covered since June 2024 and will remain so," adds the DGS.
And for good reason: "unlike Covid-19 screening tests, they allow the pharmacy to be informed of the prescription of an antibiotic and, as such, contribute to measures for the proper use of antibiotics and the fight against antibiotic resistance."
These changes "will only come into effect after the epidemic period we are currently in," which is mainly experiencing a high level of flu circulation, the DGS specifies.
For the Union of Pharmacists' Unions (Uspo), this delisting constitutes "nonsense for public health" insofar as antigenic tests "are a formidable weapon in the fight against epidemics."
And that screening raises awareness “of the importance of vaccination.”
According to USPO, Covid antigen tests will generate $75 million in profit for pharmacists in 2024.
Interviewed by AFP, Guillaume Racle, economic advisor to the USPO, expressed surprise at "the discordance" between the government's discourse "which loudly proclaims that the health of the French will not cost them more and that there will be no reimbursement", and "a project that goes against the grain of political discourse, that is to say, which wishes to de-reimburse antigen tests" which detect respiratory infections.
In his general policy speech, Mr. Bayrou said he would increase health insurance spending by "one billion euros" and cancel the partial reimbursement of medications and medical consultations.
– “19.50 euros out of their own pocket” –
Currently, the coverage of samples and Covid tests (16.50 euros) allows for combined screening for influenza and the virus causing bronchiolitis (RSV) with an additional cost limited to that of the medical device (i.e. 3 euros).
"If the coverage is removed, patients will have to pay 19.5 euros out of pocket" to carry out these diagnoses, Mr. Racle laments.
For its part, the French Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions is not surprised that the Covid pandemic is officially behind us, but it is calling for a more targeted alternative treatment.
"It would be useful, during winter epidemics of respiratory syndromes, to maintain reimbursement for tests that combine the detection of flu, Covid, and the bronchiolitis virus for vulnerable populations, that is, those over 65 and patients and people with long-term illnesses," its president Philippe Besset told AFP.
In May 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of Covid-19 as a public health emergency of international concern.
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