Who can be reimbursed for antigen tests?
Difficult to see clearly because depending on the authorities, the instructions are not at all the same.
"Each time it's a special case", recognizes Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the USPO (Union of Unions of Community Pharmacists).
According to the Directorate General of Health, contamination is worth a dose.
It therefore takes two doses and a reminder, or a dose, contamination and a reminder, to be reimbursed for your Covid-19 screening test.
Tuesday, December 20, I go to a pharmacy in the Paris suburbs to ask for a screening test against Covid-19.
“If you received a dose or were contaminated more than six months ago, you will have to pay,” the pharmacist explains to me.
I then try a second pharmacy.
In this one, I am told that if I had the coronavirus before receiving my first dose, I can be reimbursed.
On the other hand, if I received my vaccine first before being contaminated, I will have to take out my wallet.
Faced with my surprised look, the professional concedes, “it's incomprehensible, I confirm it to you.
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Who can be reimbursed for their Covid-19 screening test?
Until July 31, 2022, all you had to do was present your health pass to benefit from a test without having to take out your wallet.
And this, as many times as desired.
But since its removal, the question of free, however simple, has become a headache.
A complete vaccination schedule
According to the Ministry of Health, to be reimbursed, you must be in one of the following situations: have symptoms and a medical prescription for a test, be identified as a contact case by Health Insurance or the Agency regional health authority, have a recovery certificate less than six months old, be a minor concerned by collective screening campaigns, have a contraindication to vaccination or have a complete vaccination schedule.
And it is this last point, yet the most common with regard to the figures, which raises questions.
What is a complete vaccination schedule today?
Two doses and a booster?
A dose, contamination and a recall?
What about double contamination?
Since the disappearance of the vaccination pass, it is more complicated to understand if we are in the red or in the green.
The scheme is considered complete after two injections and a booster shot, indicates the Directorate General of Health.
“The new booster dose is not required to continue to benefit from coverage of screening tests”, specifies the Ministry of Health, recalling however its importance for people at risk of serious forms, healthcare professionals health and medico-social sectors and those around the most vulnerable.
Should the last vaccine or the last infection be less than six months old, as my pharmacist told me?
" Nope.
If the second booster dose became compulsory, in this case, the covid should date from less than six months ago, ”explains Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the Union of community pharmacists (USPO).
“Each time, these are special cases”
Alright, so far that seems clear.
Where it gets complicated is when a person has contracted Covid-19.
For the representative of the pharmacists, for example, “if you have had two doses then the Covid, you can be reimbursed”.
On the other hand, in his eyes, if you have contracted the virus before having your two injections, you will have to pay because “the Covid is worth as a reminder but not as a first injection”.
And to insist: “Each time these are special cases.
It's starting to get very, very complicated.
“It reassures us, we are not the only ones to get lost.
Especially since the recommendations on the site of the High Authority for Health indicate ... precisely the opposite.
“The HAS maintains its recommendation to administer a single dose of vaccine in people who have been infected with Covid-19”, can we read.
For people in whom the infection occurred after having received a first dose of vaccine, the HAS recommends “the administration of a second dose 6 months after infection”.
You follow ?
So wait for the sequel.
The general direction of health exposes to
20 Minutes
still different instructions.
“For all people aged twelve and over, a complete vaccination schedule consists […] of having received two doses of vaccine, or one dose of vaccine and having already been infected with Covid-19, then having taken their booster dose.
Indeed, according to the ministry, and “in accordance with the advice of scientific authorities, an infection occurring within a sufficient time can “replace” a dose of vaccine by causing stimulation equivalent to the vaccine.
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The end of the story
So who to trust?
Since the HAS is only an advisory body, it is actually the instructions of the Ministry of Health that must be followed.
Concretely, if you have received two doses of vaccine and a booster, you can be reimbursed for your screening test.
If you contracted Covid-19 and then got an injection and then a booster, you won't need to pay either.
And finally, if you got a dose of vaccine, were then contaminated and then did a booster dose, you are also exempt from paying.
Clearly: if you have not had a booster dose, even having contracted the disease, you will have to go to the checkout.
On the side of the self-tests, it is much clearer.
You won't need to pay a penny if you can show an SMS from Health Insurance stating that you are a contact case or a paper from the school of a child under twelve saying that he is a contact case. or if you are a teacher or work in home care services.
These last two professions are entitled to ten reimbursable self-tests per month.
We could sum it up in one paragraph.
Like what, sometimes it can be simple.
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