In the debate over cutting costs in the German health system, Kassenärztechef Andreas Gassen is calling for the complete abolition of the voluntary services that statutory health insurers frequently use for marketing purposes. “If the statutory health insurance does not have enough money for its benefit catalogue and savings are needed, the ‘nice‑to‑have’ services should be the first to be cut” he told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.
Gassen, who chairs the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), argues that insurers cannot simultaneously aim to reduce reimbursements for services authorized by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) while spending large sums on advertising‑loud initiatives. He warned that the current demands from insurers to lower doctors’ fees would be undermined by continued high spending on such peripheral offerings.
The potential savings from a full elimination of these services could amount to almost €1 billion a year, Gassen said.
The voluntary services-often called Satzungsleistungen-go beyond the standard benefit level of statutory health insurance and vary from insurer to insurer. They include contentious treatments such as homeopathy, anthroposophy, and phytotherapy, as well as financial subsidies for health courses or the purchase of fitness trackers. Critics allege that insurers use these questionable offerings, whose medical benefit is frequently questioned, to funnel solidarity funds into marketing and other non‑essential activities.