Diabetes health insurance companies swipe test strips

Urine and blood sugar Test strips should be deleted for most diabetics from the service catalog of the statutory health insurance companies.

04.03.2011

In the future, the statutory health insurance companies will no longer accept the costs for a urine or blood sugar test strip in diabetes mellitus type II and delete it accordingly from the catalog of benefits of the health insurances. Affected are all diabetics who are not insulin-compulsory, but are treated in tablet form. According to the health insurances, continuous blood glucose measurements of this patient group would not make sense without further medical indicators.

For this summer, the statutory health insurance plan to delete urine and blood sugar test strips from the catalog of benefits of the health insurance. Affected by the new regulations are patients with diabetes mellitus type II, who are not subject to insulin duty, but are treated in oral form. This is the result of a joint proposal by the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) of physicians and health insurances.

No reimbursement for diabetics with oral therapy
In Germany, about 4.5 million people have diabetes. About three million diabetics are not treated with insulin. In the future, there will be no reimbursement for blood sugar test strips for these patients. Doctors should only have the opportunity to issue a prescription for test strips if medical indicators are used, for example, if the blood values ​​have to be measured regularly due to the conversion of a drug or if further concomitant or sequelae occur. Already on 17 March, the Federal Committee wants to get together, and the amendment rules decide. From the summer of 2010, the new regulations could come into force.

No medical benefit
The pharmaceutical industry generates sales of around 1.2 billion euros every year in Germany with the sale of diabetic test strips. About 900 million euros were financed from this as a cash benefit. A test strip pack (50) costs depending on the provider about 30 euros. The coffers justify this step with non-requirement of regular measuring in most diabetes patients. The Bremen health economist Gerd Glaeske emphasized in a media report of the Rheinische Post that in many European countries, the test strips have to pay out of pocket. In advance, the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWIG) had determined that it was not necessary for the purposes of therapy and health care that most diabetics continuously measure the blood values ​​with the help of the strip.

Diabetic association announces protest
The savings are criticized by the Association of Diabetics in Germany (DDB). As the association chairman Dieter Möhler said in an interview, be patient „into the madness and the medicine of the 70's "pushed in. In a protest call it said further: „The patient is threatened with the loss of the most important tool of their diabetes self-management, in the long term expensive consequential diseases are risked“. On 17 March, the association is calling for a protest rally in front of the headquarters of the Federal Committee in Berlin. „I hope that the demonstration sends a strong signal to the decision-makers: to consider the concerns of chronically ill diabetics and to enable them to take part in our society in the areas of leisure and work“, emphasized the DDB federal chairman Dieter Möhler. Finally, they want to complain to the Federal Minister of Health Philipp Rösler (FDP). Because the ministry has the last word. However, most of the time the ministry does not overrule decisions of the G-BA. (Sb)

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Diabetes: Sport and nutrition beneficial
Diabetes: Twelve risk factors decoded
Type II diabetes is at increased risk of cancer

Image: Michael Horn