Homeopathy in private health insurance: reimbursement, costs, requirements

As with all naturopathic treatments, the practitioner decides the billing route. Homeopathy by doctors is billed under the official fee schedule for doctors. Reimbursement follows the plan's factor, usually up to 2.3 or 3.5 times the base rate. The additional qualification in homeopathy is further training for doctors. The German Central Association of Homeopathic Doctors (DZVHÄ) keeps directories of these doctors.

With an alternative practitioner, the treatment falls under the module for naturopathic treatments, with a reimbursement rate and an annual maximum. Plans with a strict scientific recognition clause can reject homeopathic treatment. Plans with a reference to the Hufeland directory or an open clause reimburse it as normal. Antihomotoxic therapy is closely related and is usually treated the same way in the plan. This is exactly the clause you should read before the first treatment.

At €80 to €200, the initial case history is the largest single item, and follow-up appointments cost much less. The remedies themselves are comparatively cheap, often under twenty euros per prescription. Over a longer treatment, several hundred euros still add up, which makes the plan question relevant. With an alternative practitioner, the treatment counts toward the module for naturopathic treatments with its annual budget. All amounts are guide values. The plan is binding.

For context, the following applies. Whether homeopathy works beyond the placebo effect is scientifically disputed, and we take no medical position on it. In the plan, the situation is plain. What the contract names is reimbursed, what it excludes is not. The decision on treatment belongs in the conversation between patient and practitioner.

In our advice work we see that homeopathy is the most common reason why policyholders actually use their module for naturopathic treatments, often for the whole family. For families with regular homeopathic care, we recommend that you look at three things in a plan comparison: reimbursement of the long fee items for the case history, reimbursement of remedies with a prescription and an annual budget that a single course of treatment does not already use up.

This is especially important for parents. In private health insurance, children have their own contracts. Only a look at its terms shows whether the children's plan reimburses homeopathy in the same way as the parents' plan.

With a prescription from the treating doctor or alternative practitioner, as a rule yes, provided the plan includes homeopathic medicines. No plan reimburses purchases you make yourself without a prescription, regardless of the module.

You must state it like any treatment from recent years. What matters is the reason. The insurer assesses homeopathic care for recurring infections differently from treatment for a chronic underlying illness. The diagnosis counts, not the method.

Classical homeopathy works with single remedies after an individual case history, while antihomotoxic therapy uses ready-made complex remedies with several active ingredients. In the plan, both are usually treated the same way, as naturopathic treatments with reimbursement through the module.