Why are PCR tests carried out by Monegasque employees outside Monaco not reimbursed?
In addition to New Year’s wishes, it is a recurring subject in almost all conversations in January. Who got tested? Automatic test? Antigenic? PCR? In this field, the Polymerase Chain Reaction, which has become PCR in everyday language, is by far the most precise for knowing who is infected with the Covid-19 virus.
If the screening center set up by the government carries out several thousand PCRs each week, and particularly in the midst of an epidemic rebound due to the Omicron wave, it cannot absorb all the needs… Which forces residents and employees, affiliated with Monegasque social funds to sometimes go to be tested elsewhere. And several testify to their disappointment at having carried out a PCR test that the Monegasque services refuse to reimburse.
No possibility of emergency testing
In the Principality, since August 15, the PCR test carried out at the national screening center remains free (without prescription). But those made elsewhere without a doctor’s prescription are charged. A rule which differs from France, where citizens with their complete vaccination schedule, for example, are tested free of charge, without having to present a medical prescription.
A nuance that “traps” members of the Monegasque Social Funds, many of whom have shown us their incomprehension. This is the case of Guillaume, a French employee in the Principality, who testifies: “On December 23, I learned that I had contact with three people I had met four days earlier and had all declared positive for Covid-19 in the meantime. As I feel a small cold which had not alerted me until then, it is urgent that I carry out a PCR test before the Christmas holidays. I call the Covid number, which tells me that there is no room before Monday the 27th at the screening center in the Rainier-III auditorium. Same answer in the laboratories of Monaco. I then take the direction of Nice, where a laboratory set up by the Metropolis tests without appointment that day. And this without thinking of asking a doctor for a prescription because I was in a hurry, Christmas Eve and suspected of carrying the virus. » Fair suspicion: his test also turned out to be positive.
Ubuesque?
The act of sampling, without Vitale card, is invoiced 44 euros by the Nice laboratory. A few days later, the social security funds, in the absence of an order, refused reimbursement. “It’s grotesque knowing that it was not a comfort test”, he regrets.
Sylviane, who works in Monaco and lives in Beaulieu, experienced the same situation: “I was in contact with symptoms, the services in the Principality were unable to offer me a test for three days. In France, while triple vaccinated, I was billed for the PCR because I am not affiliated with the social security system. And then, Monaco does not want to reimburse me.. She agrees that she did not have a prescription but deplores a rule that is too rigid – and also restrictive for city doctors – in a period when screening is advocated as widely as possible.
Contacted on the subject, the government does not intend to soften its position. Laconically recalling the rule, “that in application of the ministerial decision of July 22, 2021, since August 15 PCR tests are only reimbursed if accompanied by a medical prescription that they will be carried out in France or Monaco, with the exception of the Center de auditorium screening ».