For certain children's medicines such as fever juice or suppositories, the health insurance companies can temporarily pay the manufacturers more money from February 1. This is to address the current shortage of these medicines. As the National Association of Health Insurance Funds (GKV) announced on Tuesday, the so-called fixed prices for medicines with the active ingredients ibuprofen and paracetamol as well as for antibiotics will be suspended for three months. However, the industry does not believe that this will really ease the situation in the short term.
A total of 180 finished medicinal products, including ibuprofen juices, paracetamol suppositories and antibiotic suspensions, should be affected by the measure.
At the height of the debate on scarce medicines, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced in December that the health insurance funds should pay more money for certain medicines in the future, so that deliveries to Germany are more worthwhile for pharmaceutical companies.
Parents need not worry about unforeseen expenses.
For certain groups of drugs, fixed amounts usually apply, which are set regularly. The health insurance companies do not pay more than these amounts for this. If the price is higher, patients usually either have to bear the difference themselves or they get another medicine – therapeutically equivalent – without additional payment, according to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. If there is now a relaxation of this fixed price regulation for children's medicines, parents still do not have to fear any additional costs, according to the health insurance funds.
According to the GKV leadership association, the measure of further tightening of the tense supply situation with children's medicines can counteract at short notice. However, it also says: "To enable the pharmaceutical industry at short notice, there is no sustainable solution." The health insurers "warn of the assumption that international pharmaceutical companies will only change their global production locations and delivery processes, because statutory health insurers in Germany will be higher in the future with their health insurance contributions Have to pay for medication prices «.
The Federal Association of Pharmaceutical Industry reacted cautiously. It remains to be seen whether the suspension of the fixed amounts will actually lead to better availability of products on the German market at short notice, said the association chairman Hans-Georg Feldmeier of the systems, which had been saved for a long time, could not be healed by quick shot. The association referred to cost pressure and not only called for relief in the fixed amount system for children's medication.
The managing director of the pharmaceutical association Pro Generics, Bork Bretthauer, was also skeptical: the suspension of the fixed amounts is a gesture, but will not solve the problem of bottlenecks in the short term, he told the "Handelsblatt". "Where should the fever juices suddenly come from?" The companies were producing around the clock. There is no product that can be put on the market in the short term just because the price increases for three months.
According to the pharmacies, the situation is still tense. "Unfortunately, the delivery bottlenecks for children's fever, antibiotics and other medicines continue to stop," said Gabriele Regina Overwiening, President of the Federal Association of German Pharmacist Associations. It is questionable whether the delivery situation is noticeably relaxed due to the planned price loosening, since there are often only a few manufacturers and thus the offer of these medicines is limited. In the short term, she called for more decision -making scope for the pharmacies in the manufacture of medication.
