Health insurance companies grant fewer and fewer cures

Spa President: health insurance companies are providing fewer and fewer cures

26/12/2010

The German Spa Association criticizes the austerity measures in the health sector. Less and less preventative cures for health care are taken over by the health insurance companies. On the contrary: The health insurance funds would in the view of the federation withhold the insured such cures and search more and more often for reasons, in order not to have to finance pension benefits.

The President of the German Spas Association, Gerd Müller, accused the statutory health insurance companies in a recent communication to grant too little health and pension benefits. Health insurance companies are paying less and less for the costs of preventive cures and prevention therapies. Many health insurances would now do anything to "deny their insured those benefits," criticized the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Consumer Protection Ministry on a visit to the Lower Bavarian Bad Füssing. The health insurance companies had even begun to withhold the catalogs for health travel with a cash grant to their members, although they are almost every fund. The insured would have reported that the spa offers specifically denied and only given to massive pressure. Moreover, it is constitutionally too questionable at least, if some funds want to withhold the grant from older people from the turn of the year 2011, just because the chosen measures are too far away from the place of residence.

90 percent less cures
According to the Deuten Spa Association, the number of outpatient cures has fallen dramatically. Thus, the number of approved cures in the years between 1996 and 2009 by a whopping 90 percent has fallen. Instead of 880,000 only 94,000 cures a year are approved by the coffers. According to the association of spas, however, numerous studies would prove that "every euro invested in prevention saves the health care system three euros in expenses for later treatment," Müller argued.

Provisioning saves costs for illnesses
For medical therapies, the health insurance companies spend around € 240 billion a year, that is, € 3,000 per year for every health insurance patient. For preventive measures - ie for treatments that reduce disease risks - the health insurances would spend just € 5 per patient per year. For this reason, Müller called on the insured to make use of their right to demand from their health insurance health care benefits. (Sb)

Picture: Joujou