- Enabling Medical Access for Refugees
In the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the rollout of an electronic health passport for asylum seekers is advancing. SPD's Interior Minister, Christian Pegel, has inked a foundational agreement with local health insurance providers to facilitate its implementation.
As Pegel clarified, "Our primary objective is to streamline procedures for everyone, alleviate the administrative burden on local authorities, and facilitate access to the healthcare system using such an electronic health passport."
At present, five of the eight counties and independent cities have signed up for this agreement. However, Vorpommern-Rügen, Vorpommern-Greifswald, and Nordwestmecklenburg have yet to commit, as per the Interior Ministry's updates.
The first electronic health passes are projected to be handed out in September, mid to late.
Each contributing administrative unit will be assigned a specific health insurance company to iron out the finer details bilaterally. Following data transmission to these companies, refugees can secure their electronic health passes as early as September's mid to late period.
Pegel highlighted, "Digitalization significantly reduces workload, particularly for municipalities, in enabling doctor visits and especially in billing." He then added, "All counties and independent cities will stand to gain from this: besides eliminating bureaucracy, they can leverage the expertise and infrastructure of statutory health insurance."
The new passport will supersede the old treatment voucher.
Presently, refugees are required to acquire a so-called treatment voucher from institutions like the welfare office prior to requesting medical advice or initiating treatment. With the electronic health passport, doctors' visits can be directly arranged.
The implementation of the passport is based on a state parliament's decision from March 2023. As Pegel put it, "With this, we are fulfilling our commitment from the joint refugee summit of the state and municipalities." A total of 2,664 asylum applications were documented in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern between January and June 2024.
The SPD's Interior Minister, Christian Pegel, mentioned that all counties and independent cities in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will benefit from the electronic health passport, as it will eliminate bureaucracy and allow them to leverage the expertise and infrastructure of statutory health insurance. The SPD, led by Pegel, is implementing the electronic health passport as per a decision made in the state parliament in March 2023, fulfilling their commitment from the joint refugee summit of the state and municipalities.
