First health insurance reimbursed practice fee

Hanseatische Kasse pays dentist's practice fee

05/07/2012

The Hanseatische Krankenkasse (HEK) lets its insured persons participate in the positive financial development of the past year and reimburses with retroactive effect from the first of January 2012 all practice fees for dental visits.

The HEK creates „as the first health insurance the practice fee for dental visits de facto“, so the current press release of the Hamburg health insurance. Under the HEK bonus program, the fee of ten euros per quarter will be reimbursed to the insured with retroactive effect from 1 January 2012. The HEK therefore renounces in favor of its approximately 400,000 insured on revenue of about 2.5 million euros per year. With the advance of the HEK crumbles the controversial practice fee again a piece more. Although the SPD, FDP, Left and Greens demand the abolition of the extra fee, it does not come to the long overdue vote in the Bundestag.

Health insurance reimburses the dentist's practice fee
In principle, every legally insured patient must pay the practice fee of ten euros per quarter for a visit to a dentist. However, HEK members will receive this money back from their insurance company in the future. Upon presentation of the fee receipt and a copy of the dental bonus booklet, the insured person will be reimbursed the practice fee, according to the HEK notice. However, the maintenance of the bonus booklet and the regular dental check are gaining considerably in importance.

General abolition of the practice fee required
The health insurance does not only use the reimbursement of the dental practice fee as a unique selling proposition, but also expresses its fundamentally negative attitude to the practice fees. The HEK Board of Directors is extremely critical of the practice fee and therefore has „called on the legislator to abolish the practice fee introduced in.“ According to the Chairman of the HEK Board of Directors, Horst Wittrin „the practice fee is not a control function and causes unnecessary bureaucracy costs.“ Therefore, the Hanseatic Health Insurance Fund supports the abolition of the practice fee demanded by Federal Health Minister Daniel Bahr (FDP) and the majority of state health ministers.

Health expert Karl Lauterbach (SPD) commented opposite „image“: „This is a model signal. If the coffers are already voluntarily repaying the practice fee, the CDU must abandon its blockade stance and finally abolish the pointless fee. Ms. Merkel is apparently less generous with German patients than with Spanish banks.“ (Fp)

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Picture: Matthias Preisinger