How much does a PCR test really cost?

soc_net

ThisnotThat said:

soc_net said:

ThisnotThat said:

soc_net said:

PCR testing is only available from CTM if you live in Scotland at £170 . CHF50 or approx £38 is around the normal cost here in Switzerland. I have very good connections with the Swiss Medical establishment and their  reactions to being told of the average costs for a PCR in the UK were met with amazement.

I've seen test going for upwards of £300 on the Swiss Tourism site.  Perhaps not the norm, but far higher than your £38 fee.

You're also comparing apples and oranges.  Your £38 will be for a pre-flight test, which as I said can be found for £45 here (and possibly less.)  Your £170 test with CTM is a) for two tests and b) for post-arrival so not for the same purposes.  It probably doesn't help, if you're correct, that the Scottish Government has handed them a complete monopoly on people's freedom.

The same company that offers the £45 test also offers a £100 Day 2 and 8 services in England so perhaps, if we're going to start slagging countries off, it should be "Rip off Scotland is alive and very much kicking"

 If you use a search engine for your research, you will of course find examples with higher fees. If you are actually in the country concerned your findings  would be different as you would have access to a greater information base. All tests , pre and post travel are full PCR tests and therefore the same. however you look at it paying around £38 per test is better than £85, all costs here are far in excess of the UK, so I think that profiteering is a possibility. Cheaper test may well be available in the UK but be warned, you have no idea as to the reliability of your test provider. The testing in Switzerland I am refereing to is carried out at fully registered hospitals and is available to all, it is also fully compliant with current UK regulations.

There's little point in continuing this discussion. Every time you get shot down you just move the goalposts.

I think you need to learn to read.

[Deleted User]

soc_net said:

ThisnotThat said:

soc_net said:

PCR testing is only available from CTM if you live in Scotland at £170 . CHF50 or approx £38 is around the normal cost here in Switzerland. I have very good connections with the Swiss Medical establishment and their  reactions to being told of the average costs for a PCR in the UK were met with amazement.

I've seen test going for upwards of £300 on the Swiss Tourism site.  Perhaps not the norm, but far higher than your £38 fee.

You're also comparing apples and oranges.  Your £38 will be for a pre-flight test, which as I said can be found for £45 here (and possibly less.)  Your £170 test with CTM is a) for two tests and b) for post-arrival so not for the same purposes.  It probably doesn't help, if you're correct, that the Scottish Government has handed them a complete monopoly on people's freedom.

The same company that offers the £45 test also offers a £100 Day 2 and 8 services in England so perhaps, if we're going to start slagging countries off, it should be "Rip off Scotland is alive and very much kicking"

 If you use a search engine for your research, you will of course find examples with higher fees. If you are actually in the country concerned your findings  would be different as you would have access to a greater information base. All tests , pre and post travel are full PCR tests and therefore the same. however you look at it paying around £38 per test is better than £85, all costs here are far in excess of the UK, so I think that profiteering is a possibility. Cheaper test may well be available in the UK but be warned, you have no idea as to the reliability of your test provider. The testing in Switzerland I am refereing to is carried out at fully registered hospitals and is available to all, it is also fully compliant with current UK regulations.

Although you didn't receive a charitable response here, I actually agree with you that the testing cost is over the odds. When you throw in the quarantine hotel costs for red list countries it's even more extortionate for those people who end up having to travel.

People will defend all this as reasonable, but the truth is that these decisions have more to do with politics than anything else. There's a persistent pattern of this with the UK and anything vaguely aimed at foreigners - e.g. my wife had to pay a £1,500+ fee to get a spouse visa to live in the UK whereas for me to get a spouse visa in her country (Japan) it cost me about £30. In many European countries the fee is zero. That has nothing to do with the process, it's just a political decision to try and discourage any foreigner who isn't rich from coming to the country and you'll see this attitude constantly with UK travel/immigration rules.

michael1234

gordon_harris said:

soc_net said:

ThisnotThat said:

soc_net said:

PCR testing is only available from CTM if you live in Scotland at £170 . CHF50 or approx £38 is around the normal cost here in Switzerland. I have very good connections with the Swiss Medical establishment and their  reactions to being told of the average costs for a PCR in the UK were met with amazement.

I've seen test going for upwards of £300 on the Swiss Tourism site.  Perhaps not the norm, but far higher than your £38 fee.

You're also comparing apples and oranges.  Your £38 will be for a pre-flight test, which as I said can be found for £45 here (and possibly less.)  Your £170 test with CTM is a) for two tests and b) for post-arrival so not for the same purposes.  It probably doesn't help, if you're correct, that the Scottish Government has handed them a complete monopoly on people's freedom.

The same company that offers the £45 test also offers a £100 Day 2 and 8 services in England so perhaps, if we're going to start slagging countries off, it should be "Rip off Scotland is alive and very much kicking"

 If you use a search engine for your research, you will of course find examples with higher fees. If you are actually in the country concerned your findings  would be different as you would have access to a greater information base. All tests , pre and post travel are full PCR tests and therefore the same. however you look at it paying around £38 per test is better than £85, all costs here are far in excess of the UK, so I think that profiteering is a possibility. Cheaper test may well be available in the UK but be warned, you have no idea as to the reliability of your test provider. The testing in Switzerland I am refereing to is carried out at fully registered hospitals and is available to all, it is also fully compliant with current UK regulations.

Although you didn't receive a charitable response here, I actually agree with you that the testing cost is over the odds. When you throw in the quarantine hotel costs for red list countries it's even more extortionate for those people who end up having to travel.

People will defend all this as reasonable, but the truth is that these decisions have more to do with politics than anything else. There's a persistent pattern of this with the UK and anything vaguely aimed at foreigners - e.g. my wife had to pay a £1,500+ fee to get a spouse visa to live in the UK whereas for me to get a spouse visa in her country (Japan) it cost me about £30. In many European countries the fee is zero. That has nothing to do with the process, it's just a political decision to try and discourage any foreigner who isn't rich from coming to the country and you'll see this attitude constantly with UK travel/immigration rules.

I think he got a reasonable response and a couple of thanks. I'd ignore the posters with tens of thousands of posts that jump on any new post to give their frequently uncharitable view of the world.

I agree with the general hostile environment although money will not buy you out of hotel quarantine. The general poor attitude to foreigners I think is something is cultural within the lower/middle ranks of border force rather than something mandated from the top ("hostile environment" notwithstanding).