Costs for remedies and aids increased enormously

Costs of the statutory health insurance for healing and aids continued to rise. More and more children are affected by back pain.

The statutory health insurance funds must spend more and more funds for so-called remedies and aids. In the last year costs have risen rapidly, it comes from a study published today.

The expenditures of the legal health insurance funds for remedies and auxiliaries rose according to a study in the past year further. All in all, the health insurances spent about € 175.6 billion on health care. According to the Barmer GEK report on remedies and aids, ten billion euros were spent in 2009 for physiotherapy, logo and / or ergotherapies as well as technical aids such as hearing aids and wheelchairs. The cost of aids increased by just 8.4 per cent to 670.70 million euros last year at Barmer GEK alone. The cost of remedies increased by 4.3 percentage points to 618.4 million euros.

More and more children are affected by back pain
Furthermore, it was said in the Barmer report that children always need because of back pain, discomfort of the feet and movement disorders in early childhood therapies and in some cases even get strong painkillers. About 4.7 percent of children under the age of 13 already received physiotherapy. The most common cause of treatment in children was back pain at around 47 percent. 29 percent received physiotherapy because of their back problems. Every second child with this diagnosis has already been given strong painkillers such as ibuprofen, diclofenac or paracetamol.

This development is not entirely new. According to a study by the German Employees Health Insurance Fund (DAK) more and more children are affected by back pain. The number of childhood complaints has increased rapidly in the last decade. The health problems usually begin at school age and are particularly common at the age of 11 to 14 years. Even simple exercises for back pain can help parents and children alleviate and prevent discomfort. In addition, a balanced and healthy diet with plenty of exercise is recommended. The Barmer Report was prepared by scientists from the Center for Social Policy at the University of Bremen.

Parents and educators responsible for the development
Given these rising spending and illnesses, these numbers must be „amazed“ said Barmer GEK vice-boss Rolf-Ulrich Schlenker. Here the parents are responsible for this development. „Here, the question arises as to what extent the reasons are to be found in the social environment and in educational deficits.“ so dangling. Because children are moving less and less these days: "But promoting physical activity is a task that first and foremost asks parents and educators," Schlenker argued. While the increase in schoolchildren and adolescents is reasonably explainable due to physical inactivity and unhealthy diets, unspecific back pain diagnoses and physiotherapy regulations in children in the card garden are "highly questionable", as Schlenker criticized.

Tendencies of oversupply
„Tendencies of oversupply“ could be further reasons for the rising expenses. There are signs of this, for example, in the shoe inserts for children. In 2007, the proportion of prescribed insoles for children under the age of 13 at Barmer Kasse with at least one deposit prescription was 4.9 per cent. But according to the report, only about one percent of the young patients actually became one „flatfoot“ diagnosed. Due to the cost increases and the ever increasing number of employees in this area, the study author Gerd Glaeske called for more transparency in the tools. The utility and effectiveness of the aids remain largely unchecked despite increasing importance. Here there is pent-up demand.

More expenditure on palliative care required
Glaeske also sees potential for overspending. There is a need to catch up with the physiotherapeutic care of terminally ill patients with a tumor. While physiotherapy is very quickly and prematurely installed at the beginning of life, it is used sparingly in older, very ill patients. "At the beginning of life physiotherapy is often used too quickly, but at the end of a life it is used too sparingly," said the study author. Just before death, the very stressful situation of those affected by remedies can be alleviated. Sufficient palliative care is essential. (sb, 05.10.2010)

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More and more children have back pain
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