The German Health Fund: Patients Fall by the Wayside

Wolfram-Arnim Candidus of the German Society for Insured Persons and Patients (DGVP) is angry. He is angry at a healthcare policy in which patients fall by the wayside - but also at the insured persons who do not defend themselves against it.20/11/2008

Wolfram-Arnim Candidus demanded
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Düsseldorf 2008

"We can cheer, because now the Health Fund is coming," said Candidus sarcastically when opening his speech in front of the audience of the KKC (Hospital Communication Centre) Forum. Candidus would like to hold a mirror up to society to show it just how much it is being exploited by health insurance companies, industry and politicians. "The premiums continue to be raised, the services shortened," reckons Candidus. With co-pays for glasses, teeth and drugs, the insured persons have to pay more and more themselves.

"And we embrace the system enthusiastically - and pay, pay and pay." A 16.5 percent insurance premium is not an unrealistic figure, he predicts. And while the insured persons are paying, he complains, others are making the decisions. By way of the Health Fund the government will gain full access to finances and premiums. However, this does not seem to bother patients and the insured, since the government-controlled information campaign is succeeding.

Funding to keep healthy people healthy should be strengthened instead of spending resources on curing sick people, Candidus adds. Disease prevention should already begin right in the womb, so that many illnesses do not even have the chance appear. "However," Candidus stresses, "nowadays prevention is paid badly - doctors get much more money for treatments." This has to be changed urgently, according to Candidus. "We need a healthcare system, not an “illnesscare” system."

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