Doctor's appointment for money: Danger of two-tier medicine!

Doctor's appointment for money: Danger of two-tier medicine!

In Germany, many people with statutory health insurance wait a long time for doctor's appointments. A significant part of the population, around 90 percent, is insured with a statutory health insurance company, while around 10 percent are privately insured. An increasing problem arises from self-pay appointments, which enable faster treatment. These are particularly often offered during specialist treatments. NDR reports that patients like 76-year-old Gudrun Wolter, who had pain in her wrist, are willing to pay 180 euros for an MRI for faster treatment.

This development raises concerns about the emergence of a three-tier medicine. While self-payers receive an appointment within a week, those with statutory health insurance often have to wait months for treatment. A survey commissioned by the AOK showed that 17 percent of respondents who were legally insured had already received a timely appointment due to a self-pay appointment. BR informed that there are no official statistics on how many patients actually pay on their own. This makes it difficult to comprehensively assess the situation.

Medical perspectives and legal requirements

Doctors are mostly critical of self-pay appointments, but admit that economic pressure plays a role. Statutory health insurance physicians in particular are obliged to work 25 hours per week for statutory health insurance patients. The Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians does not have an overview of the practices that offer self-pay services, but it checks compliance with these requirements. Nevertheless, the offer of free appointments for statutory health insurance patients is often not enough.

An extreme case is the story of Pia Meyer-Schunk, who, as a statutory health insurance patient, had to wait six months for an appointment for cancer therapy. After discovering a lump in her breast, she was only given an appointment at the breast center months later, in December, after which her therapy began in October. At this point in time, metastases were already present in the liver and it is now considered to have been treated.

Demands for change

The AOK is calling for a ban on such self-pay offers in order to prevent a two-speed system. Loud NDR There is even a court ruling from Düsseldorf that prohibited an ophthalmologist from offering health insurance services as self-pay appointments. The consumer advice centers also doubt that patients can consciously choose the self-pay options.

The Federal Ministry of Health is monitoring developments, but has not yet announced any concrete measures. The uncertainty and undermining of patients' rights therefore remains an urgent issue that must be urgently addressed in order to ensure fair conditions for all insured persons.