German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW) – Medical Cannabis: Equal Treatment for Privately Insured and Self-Paying Cannabis Patients Compared to Statutorily Insured Patients
Medical cannabis should be charged to self-payers and privately insured patients according to the same standards as for statutory health insurance patients.
Berlin, 2020-04-14: Following the agreement between the German Pharmacists Association (DAV) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV) on new pricing for dispensing and preparing medical cannabis, the BvCW called on Federal Ministers Spahn and Altmaier to ensure that cannabis patients who pay out of pocket or receive this treatment voluntarily through private health insurance are treated equally to those covered by statutory health insurance. To achieve this, the Drug Price Ordinance (Arzneimittelpreisverordnung – AmPreisV) should be adjusted accordingly by the responsible ministries (Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs).
“This step is a necessary and logical equal treatment and would especially relieve self-paying cannabis patients and private health insurers who voluntarily cover these services. This is part of fairness in cannabis-based medicine,” said Dr. Armin Prasch, Vice President of the BvCW.
According to surveys and projections by the the German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW), an estimated 20–25% of all cannabis patients are affected by this issue, as their treatment is not covered by statutory health insurance.
The full letter to the federal ministers is available as a PDF file here.
The press release is available as a PDF file here.