Brushing your teeth should be enough
Health insurance manager no longer wants to pay for dental treatment
06/01/2023 at 8:27 p.m
In order to combat the deficit in statutory health insurance, the head of the IKK cash register has made three demands. Among other things, he no longer wants to pay for dental treatment. Minister Lauterbach immediately rejects such considerations.
There is a billion dollar deficit in statutory health insurance. A minus of 17 billion euros is expected for 2023 alone. Despite all the measures that have already been taken, those responsible around Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach are clear: something must continue to be done in the future. Only what? To combat the minus, there are several ways, some of which are extremely unpopular. These include, above all, cuts in benefits, because they affect the insured. Ralf Hermes, head of the statutory IKK innovation fund, brings such performance cuts into play in an interview with the “Handelsblatt”. In particular, his demand to remove dental care from the catalog of benefits caused a stir. Lauterbach promptly rejected it.
According to Hermes, statutory health insurance spent almost 13 billion euros on dental treatment in 2022. This includes, for example, tooth fillings, root canal treatments and check-ups, which are free of charge. Hermes told the “Handelsblatt” that the area could be “strongly influenced by prevention”. And further: “If you brush your teeth properly twice a day, you will have almost no problems.”
Exceptions could be accidents and serious illnesses through no fault of their own, which should continue to be covered by health insurance. As a second point, Hermes has dentures on the Kieker. Statutory health insurance spent almost four billion euros here last year.
Homeopathic remedies should also be eliminated
In addition, the IKK boss also mentions a third approach for possible benefit cuts: homeopathic remedies. For example, products like globules. There is no scientifically proven medical effect with these. Karl Lauterbach has also been critical in the past about the fact that homeopathic remedies are paid for by health insurance companies in Germany. They are part of the statutory benefits that health insurance companies can grant in addition to the statutory benefits. However, the expenses for this are extremely low. A cut would have almost no effect on the deficit in the billions in statutory health insurance. The removal of homeopathy is still considered the most realistic of the demands made by cashier Hermes.
Because Karl Lauterbach reacted on Twitter to the statements of the head of the IKK: “There will be no cuts in benefits. Recession, inflation and years of reform backlog. We will not ask the patients to pay. Not a nice position for a ‘checkout manager’.” In another article he also writes: “Dental treatment remains a health insurance benefit. We can save money if we avoid unnecessary operations or carry out more necessary procedures on an outpatient basis. Health ministers have to confront lobby groups, not patients and citizens.”
For next year, the statutory health insurance companies are expecting a deficit again in 2023 after secure finances. It is to be expected that there will probably be a gap of between 3.5 billion and 7 billion euros, said the head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, Doris Pfeiffer. Without countermeasures, this would result in an increase in the average additional contribution of 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points. Because of an otherwise expected deficit of 17 billion euros, the Bundestag had decided on an extra cash injection for the coffers this year.