Abstracts by keywords: Preferences
The study presented here examines the preferences of members of the German statutory health insurance (GKV) with regard to modern insulin therapy for diabetics. The central question was: Should the long-acting insulin analogue continue to be paid for by the statutory health insurance? The health economics answer is simple. If the willingness to pay of even those people who do not rely on insulin exceeds the additional costs of the new preparation, there is no reason why the GKV should not reimburse it. If their willingness to pay is lower than the additional costs, the patients themselves in the form of an additional payment could still be sufficient to cover the additional costs. With a so-called market experiment, the preferences were determined in 2007 by surveying 1,100 GKV insured people (500 of whom were diabetics). The results show: Not only diabetics treated with insulin, but also those who only need an oral medication, as well as non-diabetics, derive additional benefit from “Insulindetemir” compared to human insulin. Although non-diabetics in particular prefer financing through co-payment, their willingness to pay through an increased statutory health insurance contribution is so high that it exceeds the additional costs compared to treatment with human insulin. Therefore, based on this cost-benefit analysis, nothing stands in the way of financing the drug “Insulindetemir” by the GKV.