Government's corona measures: Court of Auditors criticizes high payments to pharmacies and hospitals

The Federal Audit Office has sharply criticized a number of decisions by the federal government in the corona pandemic.

"The Federal Audit Office calls for future measures to the detriment of taxpayers to pay more attention to the proper and economical use of funds," says the newspaper Welt in a report by the auditors.

For example, the reimbursement of six euros per protective mask would have "led to significant overcompensation in favor of the pharmacies," the newspaper quotes from the report.

The same applies to the reimbursement amount, which has been reduced to 3.90 euros per mask from February.

The system of compensatory payments to hospitals had also created “unwanted deadweight effects”.

At the same time, the Ministry of Health “has not yet been able (...) to reliably determine the number of intensive care beds actually set up and the number of additionally purchased intensive care beds”, the auditors criticize according to “Welt”.

The Federal Audit Office recognizes that unbureaucratic financial aid was necessary.

However, “the targeted management and ongoing monitoring of the resources used” must always be guaranteed.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn was recently criticized for numerous cases of fraud in Corona test centers. According to information from the Funke media group, Spahn now wants to respond with less money per test: From July 1, private operators of test sites will no longer be able to charge 18 euros but only up to 12.50 euros per quick test. The newspapers reported on Thursday that the new version of the Corona test regulation emerges.

In addition, the commissioning of private test providers is to be regulated more strictly, for example by obliging the statutory health insurance associations to check the plausibility of the billing. There should also be more controls: "The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians has to carry out spot checks and, if there is a reason to do so, targeted tests," the Funke Medien quote from the ordinance. If fraud is suspected, the public prosecutor should be contacted immediately.