Expenditure on medicines explode

Health insurance: 485 Euro per capita pharmaceutical expenditure

04/05/2011

The statutory health insurance costs are exploding. Citing the statistics of the Central Association of statutory health insurance, the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) said that the members of the statutory insurance in 2010 were given on average for 485 euros per capita medication.

The total amount of required prescriptions for the legally insured had increased to 34 billion euros, reports the Techniker Krankenkasse. The statutory health insurance companies have been complaining for a long time about the considerable cost incurred by the medical care of patients. In total, about 693 million drug packages were prescribed in 2010, which corresponds to a quota of ten prescriptions per patient

Costs for prescription drugs increased massively
According to the TK, the costs in the area of ​​prescriptions for medicinal products increased in 2010 by just under two billion euros or around six percent compared to the previous year. In total, the physicians in charge of private practice prescribed around 34 billion euros worth of medicines, which corresponds to a sum of 485 euros per capita for some 70 million insured persons. However, the Techniker Krankenkasse noted considerable regional differences in the allocation of prescriptions. In Bavaria, therefore, was acted on the most economical and it incurred only costs of 443 euros per patient, which corresponds to a value of almost nine percent below the national average. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, however, were prescribed the most recipes and there were costs of 599 euros per health insurance patient, which the state is 24 percent above the German average. However, it is unmentioned that the prescriptions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are likely to be so high due to the poor state of health of the patients and not because the doctors prescribe particularly generous. Also, the low per capita expenditure in Bavaria indicates the better health of the insured rather than the saving will of the Bavarian doctors.

Insured persons pay 1.9 billion for needed medicines
However, the massive cost increase in pharmaceutical spending affects not only the insurance companies but also their members. According to the information provided by the Techniker Krankenkasse, patients had to incur additional payments of around 1.9 billion euros for the required medicines in 2010, an increase of 13 percent over the previous year. The fact that the black-and-yellow government also sought to significantly reduce the cost increase in the area of ​​pharmaceutical spending with the adoption of the Pharmaceutical Market Restructuring Act (AMNOG) was a logical conclusion. However, as is often the case with laws, the details determine the success and it remains to be seen whether the federal government, with its rather hesitant steps, not just critics from opposition groups, will bring about a reduction in drug spending per capita in the current year can. (Fp)

Also read:
Health insurance: record value for drug expenditures
Antibiotics: questionable knowledge gaps in Europe
Co-payments for drugs have risen again
Health insurance companies increase drug budgets from 2011
Drug side effects increase with age

Picture credits: Rainer Sturm