Medical professionals increasingly offer prescriptions to insured individuals.

Medical professionals increasingly offer prescriptions to insured individuals.

In 2023, doctors gave almost 3% more medication to people with health insurance from Techniker Krankenkasse than in the previous year. This may not seem like much, but it's part of a long-term trend: since 2000, the daily dose prescriptions have increased by an incredible 37%. The amount of medication prescribed varies a lot between German states.

According to a study by the Techniker Krankenkasse in Hamburg, employees have been getting more medication than ever before. In 2023, each employee received an average of 275 daily doses, which is about a 2.5% increase compared to 269 daily doses in 2022 and over 37% more than in 2000 when they got 201 daily doses. A daily dose is the average amount of medicine prescribed for a specific problem per day.

It may not surprise you to learn that employees in Saxony-Anhalt and Saarland received the most medication in 2023, with 320 and 313 daily doses, respectively. In contrast, employees in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg received the least medication, with 248 and 244 daily doses, respectively.

The study also found that the most frequently prescribed drugs were for cardiovascular issues, like blood pressure medications (105 daily doses per person). Following that were medicines for heartburn and digestive problems (37 daily doses) and drugs for the nervous system, like antidepressants (29 daily doses).

The Techniker Krankenkasse, Germany's largest health insurance provider with over 11 million insured people, reviewed the disability certificates of its 5.7 million employees, including those covered by social insurance, jobseekers, and recipients of unemployment benefits I.

Read also:

1. The TK study revealed that the percentage of medication prescribed to insured persons by doctors has seen significant growth since 2000, with an annual increase of approximately 0.37%.
2. International comparisons show that the amount of medication prescribed to insured persons in Germany, particularly from TK, is not unique, as similar trends can be observed in various countries across the globe.
3. To better understand the impact of medication use on overall healthcare costs for insured persons, further research is needed to explore the correlation between prescribed medication, doctor visits, and the overall cost of health insurance coverage.

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