Almost two years after the lifting of the global state of emergency decided by the WHO, the French government announced on Friday the end of reimbursement for rapid Covid tests in pharmacies, an announcement which poses a problem for pharmacists.
In a message sent to AFP, the General Directorate of Health (DGS) announces that it is planned 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 carry out Trod (rapid diagnostic orientation tests, Editor’s note) Covid 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 antigenic 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 serious 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 –
Conversely, rapid tests which check the bacterial or viral nature of tonsillitis, carried out in pharmacies “have been covered since June 2024 and remain so”, adds the DGS.
And for good reason: “unlike Covid-19 screening tests, they make it possible to indicate to the pharmacy the prescription of an antibiotic and as such contribute to measures for the proper use of antibiotics and the fight against antibiotic resistance” .
These modifications “will only take place after the epidemic period in which we currently find ourselves”, which is especially experiencing a strong circulation of influenza, specifies the DGS.
For the Union of Community 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 brought in 75 million margins for pharmacists in 2024.
Questioned by AFP, Guillaume Racle, economist advisor to Uspo, was surprised “at the discrepancy” between the government's speech “which loudly proclaims that the health of the French will not cost them more and that there will be no dereimbursement”, and “a project that goes against the grain of political discourse, that is to say which wishes to dereimburse the antigenic tests” which detect respiratory infections.
In his general policy speech, Mr. Bayrou said he would increase health insurance spending to the tune of “one billion euros” and cancel the partial reimbursement of medications and medical consultations.
– “19.50 euros out of their pocket” –
Currently, the payment of Covid samples and tests (16.50 euros) makes it possible to carry out 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 support is removed, patients will have to pay 19.5 euros out of their pocket” to carry out these diagnoses, deplores Mr. Racle.
For its part, the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France is not surprised to the extent that the Covid pandemic is officially behind us, but it is pleading for a more targeted alternative treatment.
“It would be useful, during winter epidemics of respiratory syndromes, to maintain reimbursement for tests which combine the detection of influenza, Covid, and the bronchiolitis virus for the fragile population, i.e. say 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.
