Pre-departure Covid-19 test prices a 'rip off', Taranaki traveller says - Stuff.co.nz

Amanda Bruning was shocked at what she was charged for a Covid-19 pre-departure test in New Plymouth.

VANESSA LAURIE/Stuff

Amanda Bruning was shocked at what she was charged for a Covid-19 pre-departure test in New Plymouth.

A New Plymouth woman heading to Melbourne says she feels "ripped off" by the cost of a Covid pre-departure test in Taranaki.

Amanda Bruning, who has been working in New Plymouth for the past seven months, has to return to Melbourne on Saturday for personal reasons.

Before she does, she needs to present evidence of a negative Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within three days of her flight's scheduled departure.

The Government covers the costs of community Covid testing, making them free to the public. However, travellers have to pay for their own.

While she was more than happy to comply, Bruning said she was shocked at what she was going to be charged by New Plymouth medical centres for the test.

READ MORE:
* Claim that Kiwis paying for pre-departure Covid-19 tests being ripped off
* Taranaki hospital appointments cancelled, Covid testing numbers expected to rise
* No new Covid-19 cases in New Zealand, but long queues for testing in New Plymouth after virus found in district's wastewater

RNZ

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the Government is not ready to release more MIQ rooms.

After contacting Taranaki Pathology Services, which carries out the laboratory analysis, she was told she should contact either Medicross Urgent Care & GP Clinic or Phoenix Urgent Doctors to be tested.

Bruning was quoted $278 from Phoenix and $360 from Medicross, with Taranaki Pathology Service's $141 charge included in both fees. She ended up at Pheonix, paying the $278.

"That's almost as much as I paid for my premium economy flight," she said. "I feel ripped off."

Bruning felt the medical centres were marking up the cost when they should only be charging a small fee for the nurse's time to take the test which she then had to deliver herself to Taranaki Pathology.

"I don't mind paying for the analysis, I'm choosing to leave New Zealand to go overseas. I'm happy to cover those costs, but the clinics are not acting in a morally correct and responsible way," she said.

"Why would they charge so much?"

No one from Medicross or Phoenix replied to emailed questions about the fees they were charging. The majority of other medical centres contacted in New Plymouth said they would not carry out the tests for non-registered patients.

However, Carefirst said it would carry out the test at a charge of $238.

The prices of pre-departure testing fluctuates across the country, with a Stuff investigation finding Riccarton Clinic in Christchurch was one of the cheapest centres surveyed, with a cost of $182.

Clinics in Wellington and Auckland quoted a minimum of $250.

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