Queenslanders chased by debt collectors to pay for Covid tests they believed were free

People are being contacted by debt collection agencies to pay for Covid-19 tests that they believed were fully subsidised by the government, with one family asked to pay $360 for three tests.

Jason Barnes and his two children had PCR tests at a drive-through site run by 4Cyte Pathology in Brisbane on 27 April 2022. Barnes said there was no mention of any cost by staff, and he does not recall seeing any sign indicating charges.

“The invoices arrived a week or so later,” Barnes told Guardian Australia. The three invoices are for $120 each and are dated May 2022, even though his family was tested in April.

“There was a phone number and I tried calling it several times to try to dispute the charges,” Barnes said. “No one ever answered, and you could not even leave a message. I tried this several times. There was no way to chat or leave messages on the website either.”

From July 2022, text messages from debt collectors started to arrive. The first messages did not reference 4Cyte and asked Barnes to click on a link. Barnes thought the messages were scam texts, and when he tried to call the number, no one answered. He ignored them.

Since May he has been receiving messages from a different debt recovery agency, and these texts do mention 4Cyte. The message says in order to “never hear from” the agency “again”, he should visit a website provided in the text and pay his debt.

“I am getting texts every few days lately,” he said. “I am worried that these charges, if I have to pay them, are clocking up additional fees and will become large debts. It is actually causing a fair amount of stress.

“They [the testing site] had an electronic sign at the front on the footpath stating that a drive-through testing station was there. There was no mention of any cost on the sign. When we undertook the tests the person didn’t mention any cost.”

On the Product Review website, other people have expressed frustration at being billed by 4Cyte. All are from Queensland.

One wrote that they were charged $120 for a Covid test but were not notified of the charge prior. “Sent an email to 4Cyte to question why I was billed,” she wrote. “Got a reply stating it will be forwarded to finance but have not received any further communication.”

Another person wrote that they received a “surprise invoice of $120 for PCR test” and was “then referred to debt collections”. Another said they were told by a Brisbane 4Cyte testing site that they did not need a doctor’s referral for testing and would be bulk-billed. “Four weeks later I received a bill,” they wrote. “Have now received a debt collection SMS.”

From 7 March 2022, the Queensland government tightened PCR eligibility so that only patients with a doctor’s referral could receive a free, Medicare-funded Covid tests. For a free PCR test without a referral, patients needed to attend a state testing and fever clinic.

A spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said businesses should clearly explain any terms and conditions, including pricing, to consumers before people agree to the service.

“This includes where charges are only levied in certain circumstances,” the spokesperson said.

“If consumers are unsure whether they owe a debt, they can ask the business for proof. Consumers can dispute debts that they consider they do not owe. Once a consumer has told the business that the debt is in dispute, debt collection activity should stop until this is resolved.”

The financial manager of 4Cyte, Jimmy Lu, told Guardian Australia that while PCR testing costs were generally covered by either state or federal government funding at the time, “there were certain circumstances, certain dates, and certain states where governments did not fund testing”.

“During those periods where governments did not cover testing, patients were informed at their presentation for testing, via the testing portal, that they would be privately charged for any testing done if they did not comply with the criteria established by government for testing,” Lu said.

He confirmed 4Cyte engages “professional accounts receivable firms to recover long outstanding invoices” but clarified the debts were not on-sold to debt collectors. “We do not ‘sell’ outstanding accounts to anyone,” he said.

Lu did not comment on claims that consumers were not informed of the cost.

A Queensland health department spokesperson said: “4Cyte is a private pathology clinic and we do not oversee it.”

A federal health department spokesperson said the department does receive complaints about costs for Covid tests, but would not comment on the location of the complaints or how widespread they are.

“Pathology providers can choose to bill patients. In these instances providers are encouraged to inform their patients of out-of-pocket costs,” the spokesperson said.