In the last three years, German state and health insurance companies have paid six billion euros (144 billion CZK) more than needed for PCR tests for coronavirus, according to investigative reporters from the WDR and NDR radio and television stations and the Süddeutsche newspaper. zeitung For them, testing was very expensive, especially at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ruling Free Democrats (FDP) are demanding that a parliamentary commission investigate everything.

In the spring of 2020, when Christian Democrat (CDU) Jens Spahn was head of the Ministry of Health, the price that laboratories could charge for a PCR test was 59 euros (1,400 CZK). Since then, the ministry has reduced it several times by decree to today’s 32.40 euros (777 CZK).

The price is always determined by the Ministry of Health after consultation with representatives of doctors, laboratories and health insurance companies. However, according to journalists, the plant bases its calculations on, for example, extremely high material costs. For example, in May 2020 the price of the material for PCR testing was set at 22 euros (528 CZK), but at that time it could only be purchased on the open market for four to seven euros. At the same time, the ministry apparently never set the price in the free market, according to journalists who have reviewed more than 1,000 pages of internal files and other classified documents from the ministries of health and economy.

The price reduction for PCR tests has been repeatedly challenged by health insurance companies, who have expressed skepticism about the “pretty high additional costs” such as personnel costs. According to the AOK, the association of health insurance companies that insure 27 million people in Germany, the labs’ price demands were “too high from the start” and could not be lowered sufficiently despite discussions with health insurance companies.

Today, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, led by Social Democrat (SPD) Karl Lauterbach, pointed out that PCR testing prices have been repeatedly reduced. He also noted that at the onset of the pandemic, it is necessary to build up sufficient testing capacity as soon as possible.

Tino Sorge, spokesman for the opposition conservative CDU/CSU union’s health-related lawmakers, made similar comments about testing capacity. According to him, in retrospect it is always easy to say what could have been done better. “And it would certainly be possible to reward differently or cheaper (for testing), which now shows in retrospect,” he added.