Doctors demand homeopathy as a cash benefit

Austria: Homeopathic doctors demand homeopathy as a cash benefit

30.03.2011

Homeopathic doctors in Austria demand that the health insurance companies cover the costs of medical homeopathy. The Doctors Association for Classical Homeopathy (ÄKH) wants to enforce its own tariff position of health insurance. In this way, many more patients could use the medical homeopathy for themselves. So far, only the Upper Austrian health insurance (OÖGKK) accepts a small part of the doctor's fee for homeopathic treatments as well as the medical costs. However, it is not the health insurance companies who decide on the reimbursement, for which the medical association would have to set up a billing number covering medical homeopathy.

The Austrian Society for Homeopathic Medicine (ÖGHM), the largest association of homeopathic physicians in Austria, recently attempted to enforce medical homeopathy as a health insurance fund five years ago: „We see only a small probability that homeopathy will be adopted in the future“, said Dr. Gloria Kozel, President of the ÖGHM.

The ÄKH would like a regulation based on the Swiss model: from 2012, medical homeopathy will once again be part of the list of compulsory health insurance benefits in Switzerland. There are also other alternative healing methods such as anthroposophic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, phytotherapy and neural therapy reimbursed. The basis for this development was a previous referendum in favor of alternative medical treatment. (Pm)