Tamponi, chaos prices in Lombard private structures. How much do they pay?
Tamponi: what is happening in Lombardy? The article by Carlo Terzano
Someone will undoubtedly remember the syringe scandal: products that should have the same cost throughout the country and that instead mysteriously risen the more they went down towards the South, from 50 cents in Piedmont to the euro in Sicily. It was the most sensational and glaring example of the anomalies and waste that lurk in the folds of the contracts signed by a too fragmented health care, when not led by bad faith administrators. The issue was brought up by Consip, the purchasing center of the public administration which triumphantly announced at the beginning of 2017: "From today the common syringe for injections will cost, throughout Italy, from 0.049 to 0.063 euros (depending on the size), with a decrease of 70% of the basic auction price ". Putting that expense item in order was enough to save 230 million euros in two years. In some ways, that story that we thought we had filed for some time now recurs, with reference to the price chaos of “private” tampons for Covid. This time there is no PA that makes purchases, but we still have citizens forced to turn to private structures (the public, especially in the red areas, struggles to keep up with requests) and who sees the most disparate accounts presented, without serious public intervention to calm prices.
HOW MUCH DO THE PADS COST?
In short, on the tampons front, what was seen with the masks before the intervention of the Covid-19 emergency commissioner, Domenico Arcuri , who imposed the state rate at 50 cents each , albeit among a thousand tribulations. How much do we risk paying for a tampon if we enter the wrong clinic entrance? Il Sole 24 Ore , which has lined up a lot of data, asked this question. Only in the Lombardy region "the Synlab group offers the swab for 70 euros plus 15 euros for withdrawal, Humanitas for 75 euros, San Raffaele for 92 euros, Auxologico for 90 euros, Multimedica for 125 euros (promising to give an answer in just 24 hours), the Sant'Agostino group for 80 euros, the Polisalute Center for 100 euros and the San Donato group for 92 euros. Euromedica offers it for 80 euros, but if done at home it reaches 160 euros with peaks of up to 200 euros. The CDI does it for 120 euros but stresses not to do it at home. In addition to private individuals, there are also public hospitals that use the double channel, that of the national health system and that for a fee: at Santi Paolo e Carlo it is possible to take a swab without request from the treating doctor by paying 70 euros; at Niguarda for 90 euros. Response generally ensured within 48 hours ".
WHAT DO LOMBARDY REGION DO?
All this happens in the heart of Lombardy, which has always boasted of having the best Italian healthcare and a fruitful dialogue with the private one. But if the far west in which public structures live today means that private individuals can take advantage of the citizen who has to get a tampon (perhaps to continue working) and even ask for 200 euros, what could ever happen in other areas of Italy in to which public health is disadvantaged? In addition, how is it possible that the Region has not intervened? In reality it intervened at the end of the first wave of the pandemic, with resolution 3132 of 2020 . Scrolling through it, we read: "It is decided to establish that the molecular test for COVID-19 is classifiable as a performance currently codified 91.12.1 and described NUCLEIC ACID VIRUSES IN BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS HYBRIDATION NAS (Prior Retrotranscription – Polymerase chain reaction) present in the national nomenclator and regional; to establish as the only reference tariff value the amount from the current national nomenclator of the service 91.12.1 NUCLEIC ACID VIRUS IN BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS HYBRIDIZATION NAS (After Reverse-transcription Polymerase chain reaction) equal to 69.88 euros, prudently reduced by 10% in consideration the non-specific nature of the reference service which is therefore determined in euro 62.89; to establish that the amount referred to in point 2 above, after deducting any charges already borne by the SSR, will be adjusted after any new national indications ".
PADS AT 62 EUROS WITH PRECISE OBLIGATIONS FOR PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS
In short, the price identified by the Lombardy Region, 62 euros and 89 cents, was overridden by almost all the private structures indicated by the Confindustria newspaper. But there is more, because with the same act it was established that private individuals who carry out serological tests (those that detect only the presence of antibodies), would have had to reserve the right to do only 20% of subsequent swabs privately, making them available '80% for the public health system: at present, given the chaos, it does not seem to be so …
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/tamponi-caos-prezzi-nelle-strutture-private-lombarde-quanto-si-pagano/ on Fri, 20 Nov 2020 13:18:44 +0000.