Disease Management And Health Insurance

How Europe's largest not-for-profit health insurance fund is planningdisease management initiatives was discussed at last month's PharmEcon Europe 97 conference (Marketletters passim), organized by ICBI.

The company is Barmer Ersatzkasse, Germany's largest health insurance fund, which insures about 9.6 million lives, with a market share of 12%, or 13.3% of the population covered by statutory health insurance.

Gerd Glaeske, head of Barmer's department of research and strategies in health care management, said that Germany's 1993 health reform introduced a new element of competition into statutory health insurance, in that a free choice of fund for all members replaced the traditional profession-based membership. Once a year, members are entitled to change to any statutory fund of their choice.