Where did the reduction of the price of PCR tests get stuck, the HIF with its own version
Regarding the reduction of the cost of rapid antigen tests as well as PCR tests, from the Health Insurance Fund of Macedonia say that if PHIs submit information that they have lower costs for performing the PCR test for the virus SARS-KOV-2 than the existing reference price, the Fund will immediately start correcting the reference price.
- Testing for the presence of SARS-KOV-2 virus infection, performed through the Public Health system (according to the criteria of the Commission for Infectious Diseases), and which is conducted through My Term is entirely at the expense of health insurance, including co-payment. For both tests, the Fund carries a reference price according to the real costs for performing the test. These costs are monitored by the Fund regularly and the last change in the price of the PCR test is from 17.12.2021 when it is reduced from 1850,00 to 1550,00 denars. The reference price of the fast antigen test is 250,00 denars. If PHIs submit information that they have lower costs for performing the PCR test for the SARS-KOV-2 virus than the existing reference price, the Fund will immediately start correcting the reference price, according to the HIF.
- Public health institutions for private patients bring their own prices for health services (laboratory tests) through their MB, for which they seek consent from the Ministry of Health. At the Institute of Public Health, according to my information, the price for private patients is the same as the reference price of the Fund, says the director of the HIF, Irfan Limani.
In the case of private health institutions, which have not concluded an agreement with the Fund, for a PCR test to detect the presence of the SARS-KOV-2 virus, the Fund has no legal basis to regulate the price.