As of: March 8, 2024, 8:47 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
Comments
Press
Split
Homeopathy: The small sugar beads do not contain any active ingredients and no effect can be scientifically proven.
© IMAGO/Bernhard Classen
Lauterbach wants to abolish homeopathy as a health insurance benefit.
This would only affect a few consumers, but health insurance companies could save up to 50 million euros.
Berlin – In order for a drug to be approved in Germany, it must prove its effectiveness and safety in numerous clinical studies.
However, different rules apply to homeopathy and scientific evidence is not required.
Nevertheless, health insurance companies cover the costs for globules and the like in many cases.
This doesn't add up for Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), which is why the health expert is planning to abolish homeopathy as a health insurance benefit.
But what consequences does the end have for consumers?
Homeopathy “medically useless”: Exclusion of health insurance benefits should save millions
Globules and the like are usually made from plant, mineral or animal substances and are heavily diluted - usually until no active ingredient can be detected.
Nevertheless, homeopathic remedies can only be sold in pharmacies, which gives them a medical image.
And health insurance companies often cover homeopathic services.
But that will soon be over: Homeopathy is “a service that does not provide any medical benefit based on the scientific facts,” said Health Minister Lauterbach in January.
Lauterbach hopes that the abolition of homeopathy as a health insurance benefit will result in savings in the millions: the minister estimates that it could be 20 to 50 million euros.
Every cent counts, because the statutory health insurance companies in Germany have a deficit worth billions.
Nevertheless, according to the Federal Association of Drug Manufacturers, this amount represents less than 0.1 percent of the total expenditure on drugs for statutory health insurance companies.
The planned deletion is “understandable” but “financially irrelevant,” commented the CEO of AOK Rheinland-Pfalz, Martina Niemeyer.
The medical profession in Germany also welcomed the step as a relief for the insured community.
“It is right to abolish homeopathy as a health insurance benefit,” said the head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, to the
Rheinische Post
.
Of course, everyone is free to be treated with homeopathic remedies or procedures - “but please do so at your own expense and not at the expense of the insured community,” the doctor continued.
Homeopathy: This is currently covered by health insurance companies
Health insurance companies currently offer so-called statutory benefits in addition to the statutory standard benefits.
They use this to attract customers, often by covering the costs of homeopathic remedies.
However, there is no scientific evidence of effectiveness beyond the placebo effect.
Even DHU, one of the largest manufacturers of homeopathic remedies in Germany, emphasizes that homeopathy is not a panacea and should not be used separately from other therapeutic measures.
At the same time, many useful medical services, such as dentures or cancer prevention, are only partially included in health insurance benefits.
No change for the majority: Only two percent of all homeopathic medicines were purchased with a prescription
Lauterbach is not only concerned with saving costs, but also with “sincerity and credibility,” as he
told the
Stuttgarter Nachrichten in January.
“I can’t continue to have medical nonsense paid for just so I can avoid a public dispute over the issue.” That’s why he “won’t turn a blind eye when cancer is being treated with sugar globules.”
One thing in particular will change for consumers: in the future, they can rely on the services covered by their health insurance company having a proven scientific effect.
Anything beyond that, people in Germany have to pay for themselves or take out additional insurance for it.
My news
Partial cannabis legalization: Can seeds be bought for cultivation?read
Call back to Dr.
Oetker: Popular product contains mold toxins
Thousands of deaths due to medication: “You really feel like you’re dying” read
Three public programs will soon disappear from cable network reading
“I just wanted to take it”: Lidl customer only sees discount fraud at second glance
More money for public sector employees: This is how much salary there will be from March reading
The pharmacists' association predicts an increase in costs for people who continue to rely on globules and the like.
An abolition could lead to alternative therapies being implemented with other reimbursable drugs that are much more expensive, said Thomas Preis, head of the North Rhine Pharmacists' Association, to the
Rheinische Post
.
He therefore sees a disadvantage for people with less money.
In Germany, over half a billion euros are spent on homeopathic medicines every year, as statistics from the Federal Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry from 2021 show.
However, according to data from IQVIA Pharmascope, only around two percent of all homeopathic remedies were purchased in pharmacies with a prescription.
For the majority of consumers, nothing changes
(bme).