Pharmaceutical prices in the upswing: AOK boss warns of cost explosion

"Dr. Carola Reimann, Vorstandsvorsitzende des AOK-Bundesverbandes, warnt vor steigenden Arzneimittelpreisen aufgrund des neuen Medizinforschungsgesetzes. Sie fordert stärkere Regulierungen zur Kostenkontrolle, während umfassende Daten belegen, dass Arzneimittel-Ausgaben in der GKV stark angestiegen sind. Lesen Sie mehr über die aktuellen Herausforderungen im Gesundheitswesen und notwendige Reformen."
"Dr. Carola Reimann, CEO of the AOK Federal Association, warns of increasing drug prices based on the new Medical Research Act. It requires stronger regulations for cost control, while comprehensive data prove that medicinal products have risen sharply in the SHI. Read more about the current challenges in healthcare and necessary reforms." (Symbolbild/MB)

Pharmaceutical prices in the upswing: AOK boss warns of cost explosion

alarm mood in the pharmaceutical supply! Dr. Carola Reimann, the head of the AOK federal association, raises an alarm with an urgent appeal! Yesterday's Federal Council decision on the Medical Research Act (MFG) could have fatal consequences for the already high drug costs. "We are already confronted with double -digit growth rates - and now secret prices are supposed to be introduced? This is a fire -threatening wrong way!" Warn Reimann and demands immediate countermeasures!

This new law could continue to bloze out the "enjoyment" in statutory health insurance (GKV) and additionally burden the insured. Instead of limiting the expenses and securing sustainable care, the possibility of secret prices for new medication is created. Reimann speaks of a wrong signal : "It seems that pharmaceutical profits are more important than the health care of people!"

feast lights of the cost explosion

The numbers are alarming! According to a current evaluation of the scientific institute of AOK , medication consumption has been one of the largest costs in the GKV in the past ten years. While GKV editions rose by almost 58 percent between 2013 and 2023, the expenditure for medicines has even increased by over 65 percent! Particularly profitable for the pharmaceutical industry : patent -protected medication, the net costs of which have doubled by breathtaking 104.5 percent since 2013!

and even a “compensation” of nine percent for companies that accept secret prices does not detract from the whole. Reimann sees the new legislation as an unfortunate step that undermines the recent progress in the price negotiations of the drug industry. "Under these circumstances, how can the traffic light government open the doors for careless expenditure increases?" Asks them incredulously.

a call for reflection

"We urgently need effective control instruments and a revised amnog procedure , which no longer explodes the expenses," demands Reimann. The insured should not be the victims of a system based on secret agreements and questionable price structures. Now is the time for changes!