Effects of the Statutory Health Insurance Modernization Act on the supply and expenditure situation in cases of assisted reproductive technologies in Germany.

摘要

In the present retrospective analysis of outpatient health insurance members of the Statutory Health Insurance (SHI) in total and a subgroup of the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), the effect of the commencement of the SHI Modernization Act (so-called GMG) on the supply and expenditure situation regarding assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in Germany was examined. The implementation of the GMG in Germany in 2004 resulted in a conspicuous decrease of infertility treatments (from 2002-2005 by approximately 60% in the whole SHI population, and by 55% in the TK) for couples with involuntary childlessness, whereby the extremely raised compulsory copayments to the insurance benefits were identified as the determining factor.