Medical costs of German patients released from COVID 50% above pre-admission levels: study

Health

Reuters staff

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Medical costs for German COVID-19 patients who have left hospitals are on average 50% higher than before admission, data from a major insurer showed, a sign that even those who have recovered have struggling to regain full health.

Study by Germany’s second-largest health insurer DKV
MUVGn.DE
, seen by Reuters on Sunday, looked at data from 5,735 patients with COVID-19, of whom 605 were hospitalized and 49 died.

“Our assessment shows that patients who are no longer infectious are far from healthy,” Clemens Muth, CEO of DKV, told Reuters. “Corona will continue to weigh on us in the medium term.”

The coronavirus has been shown to be particularly dangerous for people with heart disease, high blood pressure or respiratory diseases, the study showed.

However, 15% of patients without pre-existing conditions – those who had not submitted a bill for at least two years – also needed to be treated in hospitals.