In many cities and regions, the health insurance card for refugees has existed for a long time.
Ever since the card was introduced in Hamburg and Bremen, we have stated that it indeed is a great improvement as we don’t have to apply for a sick chit from the social office everytime before we go to the doctor. But we have also criticized that the card doesn’t fundamentally change the system of 3rd class health care for refugees which is determined by the racist “Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz” law.
For all health care that exceeds pure pain or emergency treatment, we still have to get the permission from the social office.
In Brandenburg, still six districts and the city of Frankfurt/Oder are refusing to give out the health insurance card. The spokesperson of the district of Märkisch-Oderland, Thomas Behrendt, said in December to the local newspaper: “The existing system is well-established.”
We are asking for whom this system is well-established: Refugee initiatives have been demanding for years that there has to be an end to discrimination in the health sector. The health insurance companies are demanding the card for everyone as it will make accounting easier for them. The Brandenburg government recommends introducing the card. Apparently, the officers at the social offices seem to be the only ones liking the fact that unqualified personnel is deciding on who has “earned” to go to the doctor and who is not. The right to physical integrity is a Human Right and it is a shame that in a rich country like Germany people are suffering and even dying because they don’t get proper treatment. The arbitrariness that people with lack of qualification play with our health depending on their personal favourism or on the individual “perspective of staying in Germany”, has to end!!!!
