German Patients Must Pay More For Drugs

14 March 1997

German drug spending in 1996 rose 6.9% in the western states to 26.8billion Deutschemarks ($15.75 billion) and 5.2% to 6.7 billion marks ($3.93 billion) in the five eastern states. The Federation of Industrial Health Funds says health fund patients now pay over 10% of drug costs themselves, but the odds are that they will pay even more.

Health Minister Horst Seehofer has announced plans for higher patient charges, and the CSU and CDU parties agree that these should be applied from July. Mr Seehofer intends the charges to be applied only to members of funds which increase their premium rates, a policy favored by the other coalition partner, the FDP.

The proposal will mean the extra charge on a drug pack, dependent on pack size, rising to nine, 11 or 13 marks. The charge for a hospital stay will rise from 12 to 17 marks per day in western Germany and from nine to 14 marks in the east, in each case for up to 14 days per year. Charges for transport and medical services such as massage will also rise. An estimated 7.5 million socially-disadvantaged people will be exempt, and payments by the chronically sick will be limited.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free.  A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Login to your account

Become a subscriber

 

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now
  • Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
  • Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
  • Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
  • Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
  • Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK





Today's issue

Company Spotlight