The health committee of the Austrian National Council launched the legal basis for the "living room tests" announced by the government on Monday evening. People who have an Austrian health insurance and were born before January 1st, 2006 should receive a pack of five rapid antigen tests for their own use every month.

But the matter has a huge catch: ELGA comes back into play and all people who have objected to e-medication or participation in the controversial electronic health record go completely empty-handed. The Parliamentary Directorate writes literally: "However, it can only be given to those persons who have not objected to participation in e-medication or ELGA in general, as stated in the reasoning for this amendment". The government is thus introducing an indirect compulsion to participate in ELGA - otherwise you will not receive free “living room nose pick tests”. Every pack that is handed out by a pharmacy should be noted in the personal ELGA file. The government did not say what this data collection was for.

Midwives should take nasal swabs

The pharmacies are to receive a flat fee of ten euros per dispensing. In this context, it is also interesting that the free rapid tests carried out by pharmacies are only now being given a legal basis. According to the Parliamentary Administration, these have been offered since February 8, 2020. This should be an extremely profitable business for the pharmacists, because the demand is very high and the state pays 25 euros per test carried out. The mentioned fee does not include the material costs, which can be invoiced separately.

In the future, the government also wants members of the upper-class health and care professions - for example midwives or cardio technicians - to be able to make swabs from the nose and throat without a doctor's order. "For nursing assistants, masseurs or members of social care professions, COVID-19 antigen tests are only permitted on request, under supervision and after appropriate training. It will now also be possible for paramedics to take part in COVID tests as part of screenings in cooperation with company doctors, for example, or in nursing homes together with the higher-level service ”, says the Parliamentary Administration.

The accounting for self-tests that cannot be used as entry tests - for example at the hairdresser's - is carried out in the same way as the tests by the pharmacies via the Austrian Health Insurance Fund. This is reimbursed for the costs by the state. The republic's “pot” is formally called the “Covid-19 Crisis Management Fund”. Regarding the date of entry into force, the Parliamentary Administration writes in the best official German: "The provision on the issuance of the antigen tests comes into force on the day following the day on which the federal law is promulgated".

Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) admitted in a debate that doctors who test suspected symptomatic cases receive a fee of 50 euros per smear. He was pleased about the high willingness of the pharmacies to carry out tests on asymptomatic persons and considers the amount of the fee to be reasonable.

Evidence of vaccination and recovery from the district administration

This year, proof of a vaccination against Covid-19 could be very useful, especially for holidaymakers. Austria is going a very complicated way here, because an electronic health portal should be able to print out proof of recovery or proof of vaccination, whichever is applicable. These should be provided with an official signature.

However, this is exactly a big problem, because the official signatures used in Austria are not recognized in paper form in many countries. It is to be expected that this will lead to problems. As an alternative, going to the district administration or the magistrate should be possible. There you should also be able to "print out" the confirmations. According to the Parliamentary Directorate, this should also be provided with an official signature, but due to the legal situation on the spot, those affected can insist that the authority sign it with an official seal and signature. This is very advisable when traveling abroad.

This passage from the communication from the Parliamentary Directorate also appears to be very interesting: “In addition, the umbrella association of social insurance institutions is commissioned to identify those persons and their relatives who are assigned to the COVID-1 risk group as of March 2021, 19 and not yet until April 1, 2021 Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, to inform you once about your increased risk of getting seriously ill with COVID-19 and the options for using the free vaccination. In order to be able to implement all these measures in the area of ​​commercial, farmers and civil servants' social insurance, an application related to the matter was submitted by the ÖVP and the Greens, which was also accepted by a majority ”.