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Globules for homeopathic treatment

Photo: Ernst Weingartner / CHROMORANGE / IMAGO

Statutory health insurance (GKV) has to make savings because the federal government is canceling its subsidy. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) presented his suggestions in January on how this should be achieved. Particularly explosive: the plan to remove homeopathy as a health insurance benefit.

“Services that have no medically proven benefit may not be financed from contributions,” said the recommendation paper at the time. "For this reason, we will delete the option for health insurance companies to provide for homeopathic and anthroposophical services in their statutes and thus avoid unnecessary expenses for health insurance companies."

Lauterbach had already spoken out in favor of abolition in previous years, first as a member of parliament and then as health minister. It is all the more surprising that this passage is missing in the current draft bill for the Health Care Strengthening Act (GVSG). In fact, in the version of the GVSG that, according to the ministry, went to the departmental vote on Monday, there is no mention of homeopathic and anthroposophical services at all.

Ministry: Postponed, not repealed

The Ministry of Health did not comment on the question of why the passage on homeopathy was deleted from the draft without replacement. A spokesman simply told SPIEGEL that Lauterbach was sticking to its plans to exclude homeopathic services and medicines as statutory benefits from health insurance companies

and that this will also “remain a topic of discussion in parliament”.

So for now it remains the same: health insurance companies do not have to, but are allowed to, cover the costs of homeopathic treatments. Many health insurance companies currently pay something extra, often capped at a low three-digit sum and/or as part of a health account. However, since not all health insurance companies make use of the option and not all insured persons are interested in it, the measures would probably save a maximum of 50 million euros, comparatively little with a predicted financing gap of 3.2 billion euros for 2024.

sak