The corona rapid test, which is free for citizens, should be a way through which the federal and state governments wanted to get the pandemic under control as well as possible in the spring.
As long as the vaccination campaign was faltering, the tests were the method of choice in order to be able to give the citizens at least a bit of security from the beginning of March.
But after reports of a possibly large-scale billing fraud, the test centers, which were set up in many cities in a short time and in large numbers, are falling into the twilight.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) announced at the weekend that the controls would be intensified.
“We sharpen where necessary,” Spahn wrote on Twitter.
At that time he was in South Africa, where he and French President Emmanuel Macron were working to establish an independent vaccine production facility.
There will be “more random checks”, Spahn wrote from a distance to the address of the operators of rapid test facilities in Germany.
The minister was outraged that the impression of accounting fraud had been created.
"Whether with masks or testing - anyone who uses the pandemic to criminally enrich themselves should be ashamed," wrote Spahn.
"But whoever takes advantage of that must not get away with it."
Prosecutor determined
The public prosecutor's office in Bochum and the public prosecutor's office in Lübeck, among others, are now investigating possible cases of fraud. A spokesman for the investigating authority said that two persons in charge of a company based in Bochum that operate test sites in several locations are being investigated in the Ruhr area. During searches, documents were confiscated.
The broadcasting stations NDR and WDR as well as the Süddeutsche Zeitung had reported that in Corona test centers often more tests were billed than were carried out. Since March every citizen has the right to at least one test per week. The federal government bears the cost of 18 euros per test. According to the reports, the regulations on the free rapid tests could be vulnerable to fraud. It was said that test center operators did not even have to prove that they had purchased rapid antigen tests in order to be reimbursed. It is sufficient if you communicated the number of people tested to the respective statutory health insurance associations without any evidence.
Although it was not yet clear at the weekend how big the suspected problem is, the representatives of several parties took the reports as an opportunity for some sharp criticism of Health Minister Spahn. SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil told the newspaper Tagesspiegel: "It is incomprehensible to me that Jens Spahn allowed such loopholes for fraudsters despite the warnings". The minister must "ensure that taxpayers' money is used responsibly in the fight against corona". Klingbeil recalled the fraudulent business with the procurement of corona protective masks. The Ministry of Health must "put an end to the obvious abuse immediately and control the business with the free citizen tests more strictly," he demanded.
The co-party leader of the Left, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, assigned the federal government joint responsibility for the suspected fraud and demanded that the rules be tightened.
The government introduced the rapid test system "hastily and chaotically," said Hennig-Wellsow on Sunday.
"In my opinion, this is sloppy handling of an essential pillar of the fight against corona and sloppy handling of tax money." The federal government had "had time to correct after the chaotic start - that was neglected".
Health Minister Spahn must now "immediately explain how he wants to take action against fraud and how the bills will be made more secure in the future," said Hennig-Wellsow.
"The announcement of further random checks is by far not enough."
Support from the CDU
Spahn received indirect support from his own party at the weekend. The deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei, praised the investigations of the public prosecutor's offices. These are a "good signal," said Frei. "Because if such accounting fraud actually did exist, it would in the end be the taxpayers who would be cheated."
In the debate about the corona vaccination of children and adolescents from the age of twelve, Education Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) demanded that young people with previous illnesses can be vaccinated by the start of the new school year. It would serve this group very much if the Standing Vaccination Commission would give a corresponding recommendation, the minister told the newspapers of the “RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland”. This could make everyday school life easier for these children after the summer vacation. Nevertheless, the vaccinations remained voluntary.
According to the SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach, Germany can only achieve the vaccination target of 80 percent if children and young people are also vaccinated. “We should aim for a vaccination rate of 65 percent among young people,” Lauterbach told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. The education and science union, however, urged caution. "With young people, you have to carefully weigh up the risk of illness and vaccination," said chairwoman Marlis Tepe.