Saving options with health insurance companies

Procurement report reveals: coffers could save billions

09/25/2014

According to the current drug prescription report, the statutory health insurance companies spend annually five billion euros too much for medicines. The report, which has existed for 30 years, has been published since 1985 by authors Dieter Paffrath and Ulrich Schwabe. In it, the experts record the annual drug costs of statutory health insurance in Germany.

Drug Prescription Reports includes prescriptions for doctors
More than 25 authors are involved in the Drug Prescription Report, which categorizes several thousand different drugs, which are divided into pharmacological chapters and drug classes. Newly introduced drugs are described, as well as their therapeutic benefits and prescriptions for doctors. The aim of the drug report is to improve market and cost transparency in the pharmaceutical sector.

Attention caused in 1997, a lawsuit by 19 pharmaceutical companies against the then current Pharmaceutical Regulation Report. In this had to be blackened after passing the lawsuit various passages. „At that time, we had decided that we would analyze the scope and structure of the statutory health insurance prescriptions in order to make a contribution to the transparency of the pharmaceutical market“, Schwabe told the Tagesschau.

5 billion euros can be saved
In 1985, the cause of unnecessary expenditure was mainly for physicians who prescribed medications without any definite benefit. The annual reports have significantly reduced this problem. Nevertheless, Schwabe still sees potential for saving: „Anyone who has ever bought medicines abroad knows that abroad most of the patent-protected funds are cheaper than in Germany.“ Despite the price hike for drugs by the AMNOG-Arzneimittelmarkt-Neuordnungsgesetz, in his opinion, around five and a half billion euros could still be saved for pharmaceuticals.

Health insurance companies complain about a new peak in drug spending
The health insurance already remind that the expenditure for pills, drops and pastes have risen again. „In 2013, we will reach 32.1 billion - an increase of 3.2 percent - corresponding to an increase of one billion euros, "explains Jürgen Klauber from the AOK's scientific institute to Tagesschau, adding that Klauber expects a significant increase. „In the first half of 2014, we see an increase of 9.1 percent in spending - around one and a half billion to a level of 17.5 billion euros.“ The increase is due to the manufacturer's deduction, which was valid for the past year and has expired.

Gap in the AMNOG
Another reason for the cost increase is a gap in the AMNOG that the pharmaceutical industry is taking advantage of. Manufacturers are free to choose the price in the first year after the approval of a new product. This is at the expense of the health insurance companies who have to pay for it.
Only in the second year will the price be renegotiated. That's why the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi caused quite a stir. „113,000 euros are called here for a 24-week therapy. We get in the hepatitis C range more new drugs that are just coming to the market. There are called for 24-week therapies 205,000 euros. Thresholds are exceeded that we did not know before ", criticizes Uwe Deh of the AOK-Bundesverband in conversation with the Tagesschau. „I'm assuming that look at the other manufacturer very carefully. And anyone who knows the industry knows that it will soon bring imitators to the scene. "With this view, Uwe Deh is not alone.

The oncologist Wolf-Dieter Ludwig from the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association
noted a significant increase in costs for cancer drugs. „I am very pleased that colleagues around the world - especially in the USA - are now raising their voice against the price trend in oncology. "Oncologists are often over-priced, although their effectiveness has not yet been sufficiently proven (bn )