Berlin – Medical cannabis should finally be subjected to a regular evaluation process, the Verband derersatzkassen e. V. (vdek) on the occasion of the forthcoming development of the guidelines for the use of medicinal cannabis by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). The substitute health insurance companies (TK, BARMER, DAK-Gesundheit, KKH, hkk, HEK) have published a joint position paper on this.
“Since 2017 there has been a statutory entitlement to medical cannabis. However, the required proof of effectiveness and benefits are still missing,” says Ulrike Elsner, vdek CEO. Quality-assured care for their policyholders is a top priority for the replacement funds. As long as the evidence of benefit is not available, the decisions currently to be made by the G-BA on the further legal implementation of medical cannabis could only have a temporary transitional character, according to Elsner.
Prescription by specially qualified doctors
For this transitional phase, the substitute health insurance companies have specific requirements for the G-BA’s guideline resolution. This includes:
· The “prescribing authority” for medical cannabis is to be limited to doctors who are qualified to do so in order to ensure the necessary quality of care.
· The reservation of approval by the statutory health insurance companies must be further stipulated.
· Therapy with medical cannabis should always be limited in time, since new drugs can lead to other therapy alternatives.
· Approval for cannabis therapy should always be limited to the first prescribing doctor.
The complete “requirement paper of the substitute funds for the delivery of medical cannabis” is available here.
Expenditure on cannabis therapies is increasing
The expenditure of the statutory health insurance (GKV) for the supply of the insured with medical cannabis has been increasing steadily since 2017. In 2018 they amounted to almost 74 million euros, in 2021 it was already more than 185 million euros. The figures for 2022 are not yet available.
Current photos of the vdek CEOs for reporting can be found here in our picture archive.
The Association of Substitute Funds e. V. (vdek) represents the interests of and provides services to all six health insurance funds, which together insure more than 28 million people in Germany:
– Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), Twitter: @TK_Press
– BARMER, Twitter: @BARMER_Presse
– DAK Health, Twitter: @DAKHealth
– KKH Commercial Health Insurance, Twitter: @KKH_Politik
– hkk – Handelskrankenkasse, Twitter: @hkk_Presse
– HEK – Hanseatische Krankenkasse, Twitter: @HEKonline
The Association of Substitute Funds e. V. (vdek) was founded in Eisenach on May 20, 1912 under the name “Association of registered commercial relief funds (substitute funds)”. Until 2009, the association operated under the name “Association of Employee Health Insurance Funds e. V.” (VdAK).
More than 290 employees work at the vdek headquarters in Berlin. In the individual federal states, 15 state representations with a total of around 380 and more than 30 employees in the care bases ensure the regional presence of the substitute health insurance funds.