Reducing PCR Burden for Guardians and Caregivers: "First Test Free, Afterwards 4,000 Won"

Implementation Plan Starting from the 21st

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] From the 21st, the financial burden of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for patient guardians and caregivers will be reduced. The first test will be free, and after hospitalization, a pooling test method will be used to minimize costs as much as possible.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 11th a plan to ease the COVID-19 testing cost burden for guardians and caregivers. The main points are to include guardians and caregivers as subjects for testing at public health center screening clinics and to expand health insurance support to reduce the burden of COVID-19 testing.

First, if one guardian or caregiver visits the public health center screening clinic together with the patient scheduled for hospitalization who is prioritized for testing, the first test can be taken free of charge. Even after hospitalization, if the priority for quarantine is high, pooling tests will be applied with health insurance coverage, resulting in a cost burden of about 4,000 KRW.

Even in cases with lower priority where the full cost of testing must be borne, the testing cost standard will be set as a full payment rather than non-reimbursable. Full payment means the test taker bears the entire cost at the set health insurance price, which is about 20,000 KRW for pooling tests.

To this end, the quarantine authorities plan to prepare a "(tentative name) Infection Control Guideline for Guardians and Caregivers" after collecting opinions from various sectors. This will add specific testing methods and timing to the existing guidelines, which are currently limited to managing subjects such as caregiving personnel.

The financial burden of COVID-19 testing for guardians and caregivers residing in hospitals emerged after the quarantine system changed on the 3rd. PCR testing has been conducted mainly for high-risk groups such as those aged 60 and over and close contacts. Although PCR negative confirmation is required for patient care, it became impossible to receive tests at screening clinics, causing guardians to bear testing costs ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 KRW per test on their own.

The quarantine authorities stated, "We will finalize and announce the detailed contents of the guidelines after additional discussions with experts by the 17th," and added, "From the fourth week of February, we plan to fully implement support for screening clinics and health insurance coverage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.