Laboratory sends Corona invoices 2 years late

Blick reader SB* was stunned to read the bill. The Neuchâtel Admed laboratory wants 119 francs from her – for a corona test she did in the summer of 2020.

“When I read this letter, I was amazed,” says the woman from Neuchâtel. “This is completely absurd! I am being asked to contact my health insurer so that they will refund me something from June 2020. » She has now been picked in the nose so many times that she does not even remember this Covid test.

confusion and delay

Some residents of Neuchâtel felt the same as B. As the laboratory reports when asked, several hundred people recently received an invoice for a corona test from more than two years ago.

The financing of the tests was arranged differently then than it is now. In some cases the canton covered the costs, in other cases it was reimbursed by the health insurer, so that depending on the deductible and the deductible you had to pay at least part of the costs yourself.

At the time, at the start of the pandemic, it was unclear who would pay for the tests. The rules have changed again and again, which has made administration more difficult, explains the laboratory for the massively late bills. Some health insurers refused to pay. Payment receipts were also received late from the CHUV, the academic hospital in Lausanne, with which the company works.

The bills were settled later

In addition, General Manager Julien Spacio says: “Large-scale testing was a public health problem during this period. Billing for Covid tests was not the topic of the hour.” In times of crisis, Admed performed up to 2,000 tests a day.

He apologizes for the delay. But also makes clear: “By law we have five years to invoice our services.” Yes, in the present case, the analysis center could even demand a refund up to ten years later, according to the Fédération romande des consommateurs (FRC), the French-speaking Swiss consumer protection authority. “Admed can still recover the amount,” said Jean Tschopp, head of the FRC’s advisory department. “Even if it’s not very serious, almost two and a half years after the performance.”

However, Neuchâtel SB does not have to pay the 119 francs. On request, your health insurer will inform you that the costs for examinations will be reimbursed in the spring of 2020. For simplicity, the insurance company assumes that all the people tested at the time were symptomatic – and thus the costs will be borne. It is said that it would be too expensive to request a medical report on a case-by-case basis to verify this. (jua/lha)

* Name changed