Ms. X. * from Zurich wasn’t feeling well and wanted to dispel the suspicion that Covid could play a role in this.
It had to be done quickly, so she looked for a test facility nearby. Your choice fell on the “Corona Test Center”.
There she decided on the PCR test – not a rapid antigen test, but one that is sent in and analyzed in the laboratory. With the result, you can also receive a certificate as it is needed for places where 2G is required, i.e. proof of being vaccinated or recovered.
In the event of symptoms, health insurance actually pays
Anyone who, like Ms. X., shows Covid symptoms, will be covered by the federal government via health insurance companies. Only X. didn’t know that at the time. So she paid the 99 francs for a PCR test out of her own pocket.
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The business model of some test providers is based on precisely this ignorance: They let their customers pay for something that is also available free of charge.
Tests are evaluated in Austria
The reason why those concerned have to pay for their test themselves is given by the “Corona Test Center” in small print – online and on site: “We would like to point out that the PCR tests are analyzed at our stations abroad (Austria) , and therefore these tests cannot be billed to the Swiss health insurance companies in indicated cases. “
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So you are tested in Germany, but you get a foreign test result. This has another unpleasant consequence: “People tested abroad are not entitled to a Swiss convalescent certificate.” The test center also explains this in the small print.
Federal law does not prohibit part of the analysis from being carried out abroad.
Spending on nothing
For Ms. X, however, all of this was a failure. She paid almost 100 francs for something that she could have had for free, but didn’t even get a Swiss certificate for it.
Michael Albertini is the doctor in charge of the “Corona Test Center”. The family doctor with a practice in St. Gallen did not respond to emails and SMS. He didn’t want to answer any questions from SonntagsBlick on the phone.
Authorities want to intervene
Some authorities no longer want to watch the goings-on of such private providers. On request, the Zurich health department announced that they were “fully aware of the problem described” and that they were “working flat out”.
In another case, the federal government approved the collaboration with a foreign laboratory. “Both the federal government and the canton of Zurich now have to reassess this approach and bring about an improvement,” write Natalie Ricklis health officials. They don’t get any clearer.
For Ms. X. from Zurich, the experience with this branch of business ended as badly as it had started: To make matters worse, some time after the expensive test, she also had contact tracing on the line. The one from Austria, of course.