No pressure on the sick by health insurance

No pressure on the sick by health insurance

02/12/2014

Not every disease is treated quickly. Suffering like back pain or depression often takes weeks. Again and again it is reported that some workers who are unable to work, get pressure from their health insurance to return to work prematurely. A new law will protect sick employees from this practice in the future.

Ill pressured by phone calls and intimate questions
Some diseases are not easy to cure. Back pain or depression often takes weeks or months. In the past, cases were repeatedly reported in which health insurance companies tried to force sick workers to work prematurely. According to a report by the dpa news agency, Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU), the patient representative of the black-and-red German government, said on Monday in Berlin that insured persons would be pressured to make themselves fit for work quickly, for example by making regular telephone calls or asking very intimate questions , In the future, this impossible practice will be barred by law.

Advice for patients
The Health Care Benefits Act (VSG) obliges health insurance companies to advise and support insured persons who receive sickness benefits. The members of the cash register must be fully informed in advance and agree in writing to the collection, storage and use of the data. If the patients refuse advice from the health insurance, payment of sickness benefit can not be stopped. This revision of the procedure is a response to the criticisms expressed by patient representatives. For example, in the summer, the Independent Patient Counseling Germany (UPD) found that health insurances and doctors withheld tens of thousands of unjustified sick pay, therapies or information.

Sick pay after six weeks inability to work
Back then Laumann reprimanded the statutory health insurance and promised to take care of the matter and to inform the public after half a year. Now he explained, among other things: „The advice is voluntary for the insured. In the future, they will no longer be able to surprise you with questions on the phone, as I have been told in the past.“ In Germany, the employer must continue to pay the employee the salary for six weeks following a sick leave. Thereafter, the health insurance company has to step in and pay sickness benefits if the inability to work confirmed by the doctor lasts longer. (Ad)