A notable change in the daily life of the French. Covid tests will no longer be fully and systematically covered by Social Security for vaccinated people, even if this full reimbursement will be maintained for certain categories, such as the oldest, the government announced on Tuesday 28 February.
“The slowdown in the circulation of the Sars-CoV-2 virus makes it possible to adapt the screening strategy by bringing it closer to the rules of care under common law”, estimates the Ministry of Health in a decree published in the Official Journal (JO ).
Consequently, the ministry will, from Wednesday, limit the possibility of carrying out a Covid test fully reimbursed by Social Security. Until now, all vaccinated French people could benefit from it, the government having excluded the non-vaccinated from this free treatment at the end of 2021. From now on, this will only benefit certain categories of the population. On the other hand, the distinction between vaccinated and non-vaccinated will disappear.
Among those who will still be able to get tested for free without a prescription are people over 65, minors and caregivers. This will also be possible for people suffering from a pathology that requires long or expensive treatment, known as long-term conditions (ALD). Finally, the test without a prescription will logically remain free if a screening campaign is organized at the local level.
The decree does not explicitly say, moreover, to what extent the tests will continue to be reimbursed in full if they are prescribed by a doctor. For all cases where full reimbursement is no longer provided for, the Health Insurance will however always bear a large part of it: 70% when the test is carried out by a doctor or pharmacist, 60% when it is carried out by a nurse or a physiotherapist.
Taking into account what the mutuals will reimburse, “the vast majority” of French people will still have nothing to pay, assured the Ministry of Health in a press release published during the day to specify the impact of the measure.