Health insurers no longer pay: soon 10,000 patients without a place for psychotherapy

Psychotherapy on the edge: from January, certain health insurers no longer want to reimburse psychological treatments as long as they are carried out by psychologists in training. More than 1,500 therapists and more than 10,000 patients have been affected, the “Tagesanzeiger” reports.

In the past, health insurers only reimbursed therapy if the therapist was employed by a doctor, according to the so-called delegation model. Since the middle of this year, psychological therapies also fall under the basic insurance as long as they are prescribed by a doctor, i.e. according to the so-called prescription model. But now the insurers refuse to pay those psychologists who have not yet completed further training as psychotherapists, but are already practicing to gain experience.

The health insurers of the association Santésuisse, who now no longer want to pay, justify the lack of a legal basis. In the delegation model, the delegating physician was the service provider on paper, since the trainees were not allowed to do that. However, this rule no longer applies from 2023. However, according to Santésuisse spokesman Matthias Müller, an extension of this model to reach a solution met with resistance from the Federation of Swiss Psychologists (FSP).

The 1,500 affected psychologists are appalled. It is impossible for therapists working in practices to continue working without reimbursement of costs, unless they work for free. Under certain circumstances, large clinics could absorb the uncovered costs elsewhere for several months. About 10,000 therapy places are at risk. Discontinuation of therapy can be fatal for patients: depressive reactions, psychotic breakdowns, suicide.

There is at least one glimmer of hope: Helsana, KPT and Sanitas continue to accept therapies from therapists in training. The insurance companies have concluded a collective labor agreement on this with associations for psychological psychotherapy. CSS will also continue to accept such therapies “subject to change”. (cpf)