Statutory health insurance (SHI) provides funding for a comprehensive range of medical services.

In order to ensure that a particular treatment is effective, the Government has enshrined the following principle for SHI medical practitioners in the German Social Security Act (Sozialgesetzbuch): A therapy has to be “sufficient, appropriate and economical”. This generally makes sense and does not have any impact on the quality of treatment.

However medical advances mean that not all new or requested diagnostic and therapeutic options are funded through the statutory health insurance scheme. Any special services, or level of comfort, you would like during the course of either outpatient or inpatient care might not be sufficiently covered by the scheme. In these cases, patients with statutory insurance cover have the option of additional privately funded services, known as IGeL (Individuelle Gesundheitsleistung - Individual Medical Service).

Once we have discussed these options with you, we will offer you a contract for the private treatment in question, for which you will then receive a separate invoice. Charges apply in accordance with the German Medical Fee Schedule (Gebührenordnung für Ärzte - GOÄ). Please note that it is unlikely that your statutory health insurance will refund any costs once you have signed such a treatment contract.