Cash patients wait longer for medical appointments

Statutory members have to wait longer for medical appointments

11/22/2011

What has long been aware of the most legally insured, the desperate trying to get an appointment with the specialist, is now confirmed by a recent study of the Mannheim Research Group Elections on behalf of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV). Those who are covered by statutory health insurance have to wait much longer for a doctor's appointment than members of private health insurance (PKV). In the doctors' surgeries, those insured under the law also have to wait significantly longer to be called than the private health insurance patients, according to the results of the current survey.

More than one fifth of the statutory health insurance companies (22 percent) are waiting several weeks for a medical appointment, whereas only four percent of PKV patients have to wait more than three weeks for an appointment with a specialist, reports „star“ about the results of the current survey. Orthopedic surgeons, cardiologists, internists and Co., who often indicate that they have no capacity for a timely appointment to the statutory health insurance, seem to set significantly different standards for the privately insured. For them is obviously much more often still find a free date. Without waiting, 32 percent of the legally and 38 percent of the privately insured were treated.

Statutory insureds wait much longer for medical appointments
The question of the health insurance is usually at the beginning of the conversation with the phone call with the specialist practices and seems to serve the priority setting in the appointment. It is difficult to explain that around one in five insured persons has to wait weeks for appointments, but private patients usually receive a timely appointment. However, according to the results of the current study, patients appear to be divided into two classes, not only at appointment but also in practice. For while nearly one-third (27 percent) of cash-desk patients have to wait longer than half an hour in practice and nine percent even wait more than an hour, only 14 percent of private patients sat in the waiting room for more than half an hour. In the current investigation, the Mannheim Research Group on behalf of KBV in September 2011 interviewed a total of 2,048 randomly selected citizens in Germany on their experience with the doctor.

Satisfaction with the doctors is not affected by the waiting time
The study by the Mannheim Research Group Elections confirms what critics have long asserted and that most of those insured by law have already experienced it themselves while trying to get a specialist appointment: There is a two-class society in Germany regarding the allocation of appointments and the waiting periods in the doctors' offices. However, according to the current survey, there are no comparable differences in the quality of treatment. Thus, regardless of their health insurance, 92 percent of the respondents were convinced of the specialist abilities of the doctors and 91 percent stated that they had a good to very good relationship of trust with their doctor. Accordingly, the trust in the doctors apparently does not suffer from the questionable practice in the appointment.

Questionable trend in individual health services
However, the results of the current survey make it clear that abuses exist when it comes to dealing with statutory insured patients when making appointments. For example, the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Dr. med. Andreas Köhler, that in some cases, those insured by law clearly have to wait too long. At the same time, Dr. Köhler that almost half of those insured by law are treated immediately and many of them visit the practices without appointment. For the chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, it is not the practice of appointing appointments, but rather the trend towards individual health services (IGeL), which becomes clear in comparison to previous surveys, that gives cause for concern. So be „the proportion of insured persons who have been offered an IGeL by the doctor, from 22 percent in 2008 to 24 percent“ Increasingly, insureds are complaining about what they see as too short a reflection period to accept such an offer. „I would like to appeal to my colleagues to deal sensitively with the issue of IGeL“, stressed Köhler. The doctors should not put the trust of patients recklessly at stake, so the warning of the chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. (Fp)

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Gerd Altmann / Gerold Meiners