Brandenburg: Citizens in Cottbus must pay for rescue operations for the primary time | EUROtoday

The drawback of financing rescue missions threatens to turn into an emergency in Brandenburg: for the primary time, the residents of town of Cottbus should pay for rescue missions. The metropolis introduced that it was compelled to ship charge notices – initially to round 1,000 sufferers from the tip of March for operations from January 2025. The metropolis accused the medical insurance firms of refusing to pay in full for the previous 12 months.

The new Health Minister René Wilke (SPD) does not simply suppose it is an issue in Cottbus. In the state parliament he spoke of a tough battle state of affairs. Wilke introduced that he would maintain discussions with everybody affected and steered a spherical desk. “One thing is very clear: there are very, very many urgent points in my house. This one is probably number one at the moment.”

According to the “Lausitzer Rundschau”, an ambulance transport in Cottbus prices round 470 euros, and using an ambulance with an emergency physician prices round 1,800 euros.

Health insurance coverage firms do not need to pay for empty journeys

Last 12 months, eight districts agreed with the medical insurance firms that ambulance rides would stay freed from cost: Barnim, Oberhavel, Märkisch-Oderland, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Oder-Spree, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Teltow-Fläming and Spree-Neiße. Märkisch-Oderland had beforehand despatched charge notices to sufferers.

The remaining six districts and the 4 unbiased cities had agreed on a calculation with the medical insurance firms. However, take care of empty ambulance journeys – i.e. when no transport to the hospital takes place – remained open. The Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court determined in January that rescue missions with out hospital transport do not need to be coated by medical insurance firms. The resolution on the Teltow-Fläming district has an influence on all of Brandenburg.

Mayor expects “a lot of frustration”

The resolution is to not transport all of the individuals who known as the emergency quantity to a clinic, mentioned Wilke: “That would cause the costs to continue to explode. It will be more expensive for the health insurance companies and it would flood the emergency rooms.” It can be not a solution to say that, in case of doubt, the state will cowl the prices of rescue journeys. Because then there can be “no solution in the system,” defined the Health Minister.

Mayor Tobias Schick (SPD) requested for understanding for the selections: “I know that this drastic step will lead to a lot of frustration and effort for those affected,” he mentioned. “However, we cannot simply forego a total of 13 million euros for 2025 alone, for which the services of paramedics and emergency doctors have already been provided.” The sufferers might declare the cash from their insurance coverage firm utilizing the notices.