Long waiting times for statutory health insurance patients at specialists in Berlin

A man in Berlin has to go to the toilet more often at night than before. The urine stream is weaker. Not an emergency, but something he would like to have checked out by a urologist. He is looking for a practice online on the Doctolib platform. And searches. And searches. As a statutory health insurance patient, it quickly becomes clear that he will not be able to get it quickly. On average, patients with statutory health insurance have to wait 72.1 days for the first available appointment. If he were privately insured, it would be 26.3 days - a difference of 45.8 days.

Health economist Cordula Kreuzenbeck scientifically collected the data in a study for Berlin. However, Kreuzenbeck and her colleague did not compare real patients with specific complaints, but rather looked for the earliest bookable appointment in the same practices using two standardized, simulated insurance profiles. Whether gynecology, ear, nose and throat doctor, dermatologist or orthopedic surgeon - in Kreuzenbeck's survey, those with private insurance usually didn't have to wait half as long as normal statutory health insurance patients. Other surveys that ZEIT itself conducted also show enormous differences that many people find unfair. These differences mean that those who can afford it prefer to pay for themselves in order to get to a doctor's appointment more quickly.