Officials subsidy must pay

Verdict: Aid must pay

07/17/2013

Federal officials are entitled to aid for non-prescription medicines. This is a current judgment of the Higher Administrative Court in North Rhine-Westphalia.

An official of the Bundeswehr had sued because his employer had refused to grant aid for non-prescription drugs. Because § 22 (2) (2) of the Bundesbeihilfeverordnung (BBhV) excluded aid for non-prescription medicines as a rule.

Hardship regulation must be present
The Higher Administrative Court has now obliged the employer to grant aid. The Court's reasoning: the exclusion of non-prescription medicines from eligibility is ineffective without a hardship clause. He infringes the constitutionally guaranteed duty of care of the employer (Article 33 (5) of the Basic Law). A case of hardship would have to be provided for those cases where the financial costs of medically prescribed, non-prescription medicines are unacceptably high for the beneficiary. According to the case-law of the Bundesverwaltungsgericht, that would be the case if the beneficiaries had to spend more than 2% (in the case of the chronically ill 1%) on their annual revenue for medicinal products.

Hardship regulation of the BBhV not compliant with the law?
Since 20 September 2012, the BBhV contains in § 50 (1) for the first time a case of hardship treatment for non-prescription medicines. Under that provision, however, beneficiaries in certain cases have to spend more than the statutory 2% (1% in the case of the chronically ill) on their annual revenue for medicines.