Which Conditions Are Receiving The Most Medical Cannabis Reimbursements In Germany?
The cannabis plant is one of the most versatile plants on earth. It has the power to feed, the power to clothe, and the power to heal. A growing number of suffering patients are turning to the cannabis plant to help treat their condition, including in Germany.
Since 2017, doctors in Germany have had to report medical cannabis information to the German government. It’s a requirement whenever German doctors prescribe medical cannabis that’s covered by statutory health insurance and thus is eligible for reimbursement.
The requirement to provide data makes it very easy for the German government to publish statistical data since the data is readily available. Germany recently disclosed the health conditions that have received the most reimbursements as of September, a summary of which can be found below along with what percentage the condition represents from the data set:
- Pain (70.9%)
- Spasticity (10.8%)
- Anorexia (6.9%)
- Epilepsy (1.6%)
- ADHD (1.5%)
- Tourette Syndrome (1.0%)
The remaining 7.3% is comprised of ‘other’ non-specified conditions. As you can see from the data, pain is the most likely condition to receive medical cannabis reimbursements in Germany by far, although that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily the only condition that those patients suffer from.
It could be that using cannabis for pain management is really popular in Germany, but it could also be that pain is an easier condition to qualify for and that pain is a symptom of a number of other health conditions.
Many patients in Germany could very well suffer from multiple health conditions yet chose to only qualify for medical cannabis for pain management reasons. Rather than go into great detail with their doctors and be subjected to a number of tests, they can simply establish that they are suffering from pain and that cannabis helps.
This survey data that was released by BfArM involved 6,538 patients, although that’s not to say that there are only that many medical cannabis patients in Germany. German doctors are required to report the data only after the patient has received reimbursements for a full year or ‘as soon as treatment is interrupted.’
The number of patients involved in the study will increase over time. The requirement to participate in the data survey will continue until March 2022.