Would you test if it cost you money?

[Twizbe]

I was reading the high brow publication BuzzFeed the other day.

There was an article on Omnicron in the US and the queues for testing.

It showed a picture of an empty shelf of LFT and a comment about how everywhere had sold out. These tests cost around $30 a pack. I'm not sure how many were in a pack but the empty boxes suggested it would be like our packs of 7.

Really brought home that we're so lucky to have the NHS providing these tests for free.

But the question, would you do regular LFT if a pack of 7 tests cost £30?

No absolutely not ! I wouldn’t be able to afford it

No, I wouldn’t be able to afford to.

Not a chance. Not regularly anyway. I might buy one box to use before visiting elderly relatives, but that’s it.

I think in a way testing does cost money here - if you have a positive test it leads to loss of income for many due to having to isolate so many people just don’t test already for that reason. So I think if they made the actual tests cost money no one would do them at all- except for things like travelling where there’s an incentive to do so (ie being able to travel).

Nope. The day they start charging for LFTs is the day I stop using them.

No but we’re not used to paying for healthcare whereas they are in America.

Nope. Wouldn’t be able to afford to. There are 5 of us in this household.

Not a chance

No, if I had to do it regularly. I live in Germany and when I’m not tested at work, I buy my own. It’s 2.75€ per test, but it’s just me and I can afford it.

My family is in Spain, in their province one test is 11€. If they had to test the whole family just twice a week, that would be 550€ a month in tests. Double their mortgage. So they don’t test, unless they have symptoms when the tests are free.

Yes, I would, but I could afford it. I’m not vaccinated so I’m as cautious as I can be in other ways, although not mixing much anyway.

The US tests are $28 each from a pharmacy. I have a lot of colleagues there. Some are able to get them from their insurer but not all. I think PCR’s are free if you get a government one but there are also private suppliers.

We would save testing for special occasions!

Nope. Can afford it. Don’t want to spend my money on it.

Nope. I earn plenty and that is not something I would spend my money on

As it is I'm self employed so if I got Covid or had to isolate I'd lose 10 days wages

I probably would have bought a box of tests - but anyone wanting to take a test from the box would need written approval and would have to sign for it

Firstly it's Omicron, not Omnicron. Secondly no, I wouldn't pay for tests I had to take regularly.

No. Too expensive. I might get one set once in a while to use before visiting my elderly and disabled mother, but not otherwise.

There are still three of us regularly in this house, and during university holidays that can go back up to five. That's why it would be too expensive.

I test regularly just incase I’m asymptomatic. Would I pay for a LFT before I visit my grandparents ‘just incase’ yes.

Would I test just after a busy weekend or before I go to a large event ‘just in case’ no. I also test as soon as I feel 100% not myself - sore throat, more tired than usual, bit of a cold? Probably not as I’ve been 99% sure before I tested that it’s just a cold/feeling run down/the normal tonsillitis.

You’ve also got to think that giving out LFT is to keep the economy/education going/our strategy as business as usual. Before the summer we were making the students test twice a week and that was a struggle. None of them would have bothered if they had to pay for them.

There’s a couple of people I know that have been worried about covid and before meeting/going to their house they’ve asked us to do a LFT - could you imagine the AIBU ‘my friend has asked me to do a LFT are they a CF for not paying for it?’

Really brought home that we're so lucky to have the NHS providing these tests for free

We will be paying for them in higher taxation they aren’t free.

Secondly government will soon make business pay for them if they want staff tested regularly at work - individuals will have to pay if day going to visit relatives or parties/large crowds etc

Plus I also think there’s been a few posts on here where people are getting PCR tests then isolating so they can be sure to be germ free for Christmas! These stories will lead to more pressure for people to pay.

No. I'm in Italy and most people have to pay for tests unless you are contacted by track and trace. The only people I know who test regularly are unvaccinated and they need to for work. My children have tested a few times (free) and I would test if going to an event but I'm not going anywhere!

Rules have changed here already. PCR only for hospital admissions and travel.
Positive LFT means you have to isolate. You must return two negative LFT 24 hours apart to be released from isolation. If still positive after 10 days PCR required until negative.

Same in most countries, many European countries charge too hence why our rates are so much higher because we pick up asymptomatic cases by chance

No. I do them because my workplace requests it and they have boxes of tests available to pick up. If I had to pay, I'd probably only do one if symptomatic (and before someone jumps in, yes, I know they're not officially recommended for that purpose...)

No wouldn’t be able to that’s half the weekly shopping budget.

I have done, for tourism into the UK. It’s non essential travel, so rightly you have to pay.
3x 2-day PCR tests and 3x Fit to Fly PCR just short of £500.

I’ve never needed one in our home country where they’re €15 for a LFT.
I know people who do them at the drop of a hat (e.g. standing two socially distanced rows in front of someone wearing a mask who later tested positive) but that’s just salving anxiety with money.

I think I would have used them for 'special' occasions, Dds dad has just had a new baby so I would have her test before she went. I don't have any elderly or vulnerable relatives but would have used them before visiting if I did.

For work I'm a teacher so I might have bought a pack and tested once a week for that but couldn't afford for two of us to test twice a week as we do.

No, I wouldn't - and this is a big reason why comparing cases of Covid between countries is an absolute nonsense. Yet they're trotted out every day as if they're gospel and used as political weapons with which to close borders and vilify people from countries that admit to high case numbers.

AFAIK the UK is the only country that provides free tests for all - in Europe you have to pay a nominal fee and go to your local pharmacy to get tested, so how many people with a runny nose and a sore throat are bothering to do that? Not many, is my guess.

And as for the US, no one I know there (which is quite a few people), tests regularly. They'd only do so if they had what are accepted as the standard Covid symptoms (cough, headache, fever, loss of taste/smell), and only then if they were prepared to/financially able to isolate until better. So all along, millions of people have just not got tested, continued to go to work and hoped for the best. I'm willing to bet that happens a lot in the UK too, probably now more than ever, we just don't talk about it.