Why are covid home tests free to pick up at phamacies, yet tests for travellers are at extortianate prices?

[CatAndHisKit]

I assume it's the same type of test - or not?
I have a relative travelling to stay with me in summer for nearly two months (she always does, already skipped the winter stay) , just learned that it costs around £150 for the two tests. Possibly also when going back in 6 weeks).

Is the govt or agencies turned this into money making tool, or am I missing something? People aer still traelling even on short holidays so it hasn't stop the travel. For people who are hard up after all the covid fallout this is hard to afford.

I'm also amazed people are not protesting / challenging this what with all the other protests, taking onto account that tests are free of chaarge when in this country.
Other countries charge a lot less, still adds up but it's around 25 euros.

*hasn't stopped

I must admit I agree with you, I think it may well be a money making initiative. However whilst the test should be free for uk citizens, people coming in from other countries should have to pay.

Are the travel ones PCR tests? Thet have to be processes by the lab. The pharmacy ones are lateral flow.

Yes the tests for travellers will be pcr tests surely.
Lateral flow tests are less likely to pick up an infection. They're OK for what they're used for - mass testing of lower risk people - but it's been decided that testing symptomatic people or travellers needs a more sensitive test.

They require a lab to examine the results so that will be more expensive.

My understanding is that your viral load when asymptomatic is higher and therefore able to be picked up by the less sensitive lateral flow tests. The other test will detect smaller amounts of the virus and is therefore more reliable.

Also they don't want every holidaymaker booking ok for the free PCR tests that are really needed to determine if those with symptoms have covid or not. It would put a massive strain on that system I'm sure.

We are having to administer a test online while we are away. I think it's over zoom and someone directs us to check the tests have been done properly.

Sorry, posted too soon. That's while we are away. I kind of feel better knowing that these precautions are being taken. even if it cost over £200 for testing

Because it’s not the kit. It’s the Labour involved in the pcr tests. Lateral flow you do yourself

Because overseas travel is a luxury whereas the LFT tests are there to reduce the spread of COVID.
Why should the NHS fund a test required for overseas travel?

I don't think the NHS should be providing tests for international travel.

The travel ones are much cheaper in most other countries from what I can gather.

DD's friend is coming home from Spain very soon, via Portugal. She paid a fraction of the price as she has had to for the ones when she gets home.

There appears to be a lot of profit making involved in the travel PCRs.

Even for a green country it adds at least £120 per person to the holiday cost.

It's because the NHS has to decide what to fund or not.

LTF tests to detect and reduce community transmission is important to protect NHS services (and most likely more cost effective in the long term). This means it's a high enough priority to qualify for funding.

International travel is (largely) a personal choice, and as with all choices there comes a cost. The NHS doesn't have the budget to fund everything, and people wanting to travel isn't high enough on their list to qualify for NHS spending.

It isn't the same type of test. The free ones are LFTs that are self-administered requiring no additional analysis work. They are notoriously very unreliable - loads of false positives and false negatives so really not much use but if lots of people are using them regularly then they will occasionally hit the jackpot of identifying a symptomless case which otherwise would never have been picked up, so every little helps on that regard. They may be inaccurate but they will pick up more cases than would be picked up if they weren't being used at all. The benefit to society is relatively small but it does exist. Obviously the tests have to be free and readily available - the number of people participating would plummet if there was any cost.

For travellers the more accurate PCR test is appropriate because the accuracy of an LFT test is inadequate if you are actually going to be deciding whether to let someone onto a plane/into country based on it. It requires professional analysis and that has to be paid for. Of course the traveller, not the tax payer, needs to fund that work.

As more people start travelling the costs will probably end up coming down further but at the moment it’s still a very limited business and has to cover costs of labour, lab set up etc etc.

For now it’s a cost you have to factor in when you decide to travel.

My DH went to Portugal recently. The tests cost about £200 and had to be taken to a drop box 45 miles away.
I definitely would not support the NHS providing the tests for free.
It was his choice to go so it’s our responsibility to pay

@ThreeB

Because overseas travel is a luxury whereas the LFT tests are there to reduce the spread of COVID. Why should the NHS fund a test required for overseas travel?

This

In much the same way the vaccinations for yelled fever etc and malaria tablets for foreign travel are not provided on the NHS.

Because the tests we collect at pharmacies are part of the initiative to help prevent community transmission. The government are not going to pay for you to be tested for choosing to travel. It's that simple.

Surprised to find that when DS flew last week, he only needed an antigen (LTF) test done remotely rather than pcr.

He had to photograph the test with his passport next to it before and after the 20 min test interval, and send the images to a lab by email. It all felt a bit easy to get round if you’d wanted to.

I get why travellers have to pay for a Oct test BUT I have to have a weekly PCR test through work and I wouldn't be able to use that result for travel. I'd have to pay for one separately.

I thought it was the same test as it's equally self-administered (though with an option to go to a centre). But that explains it to an extent, thank you all.

I wasn't suggesting it should be free - but 150-200 for two tests? As Abraxan says, it's a fraction of the cost in Portugal and where my relative is coming from it's 25 pounds for one.

Don't forget people do have a test just before travelling within 72hrs and must wear masks on planes - so it's not a huge likelihood they will pick up the virus, but I get it that they do need a test, it's just the cost!

IsItShining - that's another thing, many countries accept antigen test instead to come in, and my relative had hers done (she's got strong antibodies) but these are not accepted in the UK instead of the usual pre-travel tests.

I don't think the NHS should be providing tests for international travel

The NHS isn't providing free tests for travel. The government has granted contracts for traveller PCR tests to a limited number of companies who are doing very nicely out of it.

The problem is not people paying for their tests when traveling but the profiteering going on by companies jumping on the bandwagon and doing nothing more than overcharging for distributing tests (and regularly failing to so do).

We have the most expensive travel PCR tests in Europe.

in Portugal and where my relative is coming from it's 25 pounds for one.

between 20-40 Euros per PCR test seems common across Europe (I think France provide one free).

In the UK the extortionate cost can only be explained by profiteering. Last time a DC had to return to UK it was 30 Euro per test from Europe, over 100 pounds per test on the UK side and two of the tests were not delivered until nearly a week after they had returned. The source company for the tests wasn't a pharma company or even a medical company it was a children's clothes importer based out of an office in Berkshire.

Heathrow does a test and go service - take test, results within 2 hrs and fly. That was 80 pounds but at least there there is an added value factor of the immediate result.

I thought it was the same test as it's equally self-administered (though with an option to go to a centre). But that explains it to an extent, thank you all.

Same process for the person being tested, but the analysis is much more thorough in the lab, than with the lft.

It's all just a money making scheme with inflated prices, probably to deter people from travelling abroad and making a pretty penny on those who still choose to/need to for business.

As a freight driver I only need a lateral flow to get into Germany, not that I have ever been checked. Whilst in Germany I have then needed to take separate tests to travel to Denmark for example. Germany, to my knowledge at least, doesn't have the LFT scheme for freight drivers that the UK does, so we have to pay.

A company offering private tests has 4 levels of payment, depending on how quickly you want the results, ranging from around €75 to €180. The top tier says results back within 6 hours. I've only ever paid for the bottom tier as I'm loathe to support this growing industry, and I still get the results back by that evening, so what exactly are people paying an extra €100 for?

Denmark now accept double vaccination for entry, at least for freight, but from what I could gather EU nationals travelling for leisure could also get in this way test free.

In Norway the test cost the best part of £250 but that was for a 3 hour result time.

In the UK you do 4 contacts with the throat and 8-10 twists in your nose, whether its LFT or PCR. In Germany they only go for the back of the throat, and in Norway they use the nose only. Which way is correct or the most accurate?

I'm off to the Balearics for 4 days next week and the tests will be more than the flights!