Abstracts by keywords: optional benefits
Since forms of reimbursed medical treatment have become known, there have also been fears that healthcare professionals will recommend care options to their patients that are not or not yet necessary. This fear becomes explosive in terms of health policy with regard to statutory health insurance, in which the costs and consequential costs for treatments that are not reported or not yet reported are financed in solidarity by all of the insured (Breyer/Zweifel/Kifmann, 2013; Breyer/Buchholz, 2021). As early as 2000/2001, the Advisory Council stated in its report that care with non-indicated services or with services without a sufficiently secured net benefit is tantamount to "medical oversupply". On the other hand, services with only a minor benefit that no longer justifies the costs or are provided in an inefficient (i.e. uneconomical) form are classified as “economic oversupply” (Sachverständigenrat 2000/2001). This form of incorrect care is also associated with incorrectly set incentives, which manifest themselves in low-threshold access conditions and can thus lead to the use of inappropriate levels of care (John/Stillfried 2021).