Medicinal health insurance will pay more soon

Medicines: Legally insured persons pay more in the future.

(03.09.2010) The German Association of Pharmacists (ABDA) announces that as of this month, of the approximately 8,400 over-the-counter prescription medicines available so far, only 5,524 can be donated without a cost contribution from the customers. The reason: the statutory health insurance companies have to reduce their costs.

Since September 1, members of the statutory insurance scheme have been required to pay a contribution of 10 percent, but a minimum of 5, and a maximum of 10, - Euro for nearly 3,000 medicines that were previously free of charge. The collected funds are passed on directly by the pharmacies to the insurance companies. According to the ABDA, in 2009, with the higher number of unpaid medicines, 1.7 billion have already been paid to the statutory insurance.

Copyrights will be paid for drugs whose price is 30 percent below the fixed amount stipulated by the statutory insurance. The fixed amount indicates what sum the insurance companies are willing to pay for a drug. For example, insurance companies have now reduced the fixed amount for about 20 drug groups, with the payment limits for 18 groups changing. As a result, a large proportion of the drugs will be subject to future contributions. If manufacturers do not respond with cost reductions, as officially hoped for by statutory insurance companies, customers will continue to pay more. The insurance companies, however, can expect savings of about 450 million euros. Affected are numerous antibiotics, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular agents, said a spokesman for the Federal Association of German pharmacists associations „sueddeutsche.de“ The fixed amount scheme currently includes around 30,300 medicines.

The Federal Ministry of Health recommends those affected to inform themselves about payment-free alternative medicines and to switch them if necessary. In addition, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Christian Lipicki, emphasized that in the past, producers have always corrected their prices after taking such measures. Lipicki also pointed out that the additional payments are already capped at two percent - for chronic patients at one percent - of income.

However, due to the reduced fixed amounts, it may also happen that insured persons must increasingly make so-called additional payments. Because with products whose price is above the fixed amount, customers have to pay the difference out of their own pocket. And since not all manufacturers react with price reductions for a long time, there are some sums of more than 100, - €, which may be paid by the insured for required medicines themselves. According to the industry service Apotheke Adhoc, manufacturers such as AstraZeneca, Bayer, Merck or Pfizer will not lower the prices for numerous preparations. Predominantly original manufacturers defend themselves against the control instruments of the insurance companies. The generics manufacturers, on the other hand, largely adjust their prices. (Fp)

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