Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 243–4
A German health insurance company, the Betriebskran-kenkasse BKK, has signed a contract with the German Association of Pharmacists and the German Central Association of Homoeopathic Physicians to provide cover for integrated treatment.1 Since June 2005, it has reimbursed patients for homoeopathic consultation by non-medically trained homoeopaths as well as physicians and pharmacists with additional qualifications in homoeopathy. This is in response to the increasing demand from patients for a modestly priced treatment option. Patients will, however, still have to pay for homoeopathic medication.
This decision has triggered a petition from scientists of the Society of the Scientific Evaluation of Parascience.2 The scientists fear that the insurance company’s decision to cover a treatment method that so far has not been proven to be superior to placebo undermines the scientific standards of the effectiveness evaluation of medicines.
