Tests | SPD: “It is incomprehensible that Spahn allowed loopholes for fraudsters”

Test centers are springing up in many German cities. They are co-financed by the state, but hardly controlled. After reports of fraud and massive criticism, the Minister of Health now wants to change that.

In view of the suspicion of billing fraud in corona tests for everyone, Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn insists on a correct procedure and checks stricter control rules. He sees that most providers “do it with great commitment, very professionally and also very properly,” said the CDU politician on Saturday in Pretoria on the sidelines of a visit to South Africa. “We will now also see whether we can tighten the control mechanisms again.”

Among other things, Spahn wrote on Twitter: “Whether with masks or testing – anyone who uses the pandemic to criminally enrich themselves should be ashamed.”

According to research by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, NDR and WDR, significantly more tests are to be billed to the statutory health insurance associations in many places in Corona test centers than had actually been carried out. At a MediCan location in Cologne, for example, only around 70 tests were carried out in one day – but almost 1,000 were billed. A supervisory authority that checks whether the number of tests actually carried out corresponds to the tests billed has been missing so far. The federal government reimburses 18 euros for each individual test.

“Sometimes things have to happen quickly in a pandemic”

Spahn said that the “citizen tests” had been made possible in a very pragmatic way in a situation in which rapid construction was wanted. The local authorities decided on operators of test centers such as doctors, pharmacists, the Red Cross or private providers. It is expressly provided that the health authorities decide who meets the conditions to do it well.

Spahn also pointed out that a subsequent control was already planned. “In a pandemic, things sometimes have to be quick.” However, providers would have to expect that documents can be checked by the end of 2024. In any case, it was planned to reduce the remuneration soon in view of the larger offer on the market. Since the beginning of March, the federal government has been paying for at least one rapid test per citizen per week.

“After the masks, now the quick tests”

That is not enough for the SPD, its top politicians attack Health Minister Spahn. The First Parliamentary Managing Director of the SPD parliamentary group, Carsten Schneider, told the German Press Agency on Saturday: “After the masks, now the rapid tests. The management failure in the Ministry of Health has assumed unacceptable proportions.”

Spahn ignored warnings and advice from members of the coalition factions for the test conditions. “He is responsible for the responsible use of taxpayers’ money and must stop self-service immediately.”

“Deep indecent”

SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil also raised serious allegations against the health minister: “It is incomprehensible to me that Jens Spahn allowed such loopholes for fraudsters despite the warnings,” Klingbeil told the “Tagesspiegel”. It was “deeply indecent” to enrich oneself personally in the pandemic at the expense of the general public, said the SPD politician.

It is “irrelevant whether it is the million deals with overpriced masks or the fraud in the citizen tests”. The Ministry of Health must now “put an end to the obvious abuse immediately and control the business with the free citizen tests more strictly.”

Meanwhile, the judiciary is reacting faster than the Federal Ministry of Health: In North Rhine-Westphalia, the public prosecutor’s office for white-collar crime in Bochum has now started investigations.

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