Medical Cannabis

Medical cannabis has a very broad therapeutic spectrum. It can therefore provide relief for a whole range of symptoms and diseases – each case is different and must be discussed with the attending physician. Among dozens of other diseases, the therapy is used especially for chronic pain, migraine, ADHD, depression and sleep disorders.

Cannabinoid therapy can be useful in case of serious chronic ailments of a physical or psychological nature that could not be conclusively treated successfully or if treatment with the previous means was not tolerable for the patient, e.g. because of severe side effects. The therapy can thus be applied as an alternative or also as a supplement to the existing medication.

Since March 10, 2017 with the passing of the “Cannabis as Medicine” law in Germany, the prescription of medical cannabis is legal. To become a patient, you need a prescription from a doctor who can prescribe cannabis use for medical reasons for serious, chronic illnesses. A serious illness is one that for example significantly impairs your quality of life in the long term.

In order for the health insurance company to cover the costs, an application must be submitted before therapy begins. According to the law, this may be rejected “only in justified exceptional cases”. However, this happens in over 50% of cases. In addition, it is also necessary that no other generally recognized medical service is available for the illness, that its side effects make its use inadvisable, or that it is out of the question for other individual reasons. A further prerequisite for cost coverage is participation in an accompanying study. For this purpose, anonymized patient data are transmitted to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) in order to research the long-term use of medical cannabis. Please note: reimbursement through a statutory health insurance is not possible via Algea Care at the moment. For this, a licensed physician with a “Kassensitz” needs to prescribe you cannabis.

Private health insurance generally covers the costs of therapy with medical cannabis if there is a medical prescription for it, the patient purchases the medicine from a pharmacy, the therapy is medically necessary and complies with the rules of conventional medicine, or there are no other conventional medical means and methods available with the prospect of the same success.