The Social Association SoVD has called on the government to step in against high drug prices. “It cannot be that insured people’s contributions keep rising while the pharmaceutical industry rakes in billions” said SoVD chairman Michaela Engelmeier in an interview with the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.
Engelmeier specifically wants a “rapid cost‑benefit assessment of new medicines even before they are approved” to stop companies from setting “fantasy prices”. She argues that the government must urgently reform the Arzneimittelmarktneuordnungsgesetz (AMNOG). Such reforms would ease the burden on both insurers and the insured.
Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) has set up an expert commission that is due to submit savings proposals for the health system by the end of March, aiming to prevent further increases in contributions. Faced with a looming billion‑euro deficit for the funds, the national insurers’ association GKV is also urging cuts in drug costs. “Pharmaceutical prices in our country are already the highest after the United States. When it comes to changing that, politics has been too hesitant” said GKV chairman Oliver Blatt in the “NOZ”.
Last year the funds spent €58.5 billion on pharmaceuticals-more than on outpatient medical care.
