BVGSD: Targeted fitness training can reduce healthcare spending

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To curb cost increases in the health care system, the Federal Association of Health Studios Germany (BVGSD e.V.) is calling for a radical rethink.

The cost explosion in the health care system would not be necessary if the importance of fitness training were correctly assessed by both the federal government and the health care payers.

Hardly any other industrialized country currently spends as much money on its healthcare system as Germany. And from next year onwards, those insured under the statutory health insurance system will have to prepare themselves for even significantly higher health insurance contributions. According to a current forecast by the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance (GKV), health insurers' expenditures will grow faster than their revenues, so that additional contributions will have to be raised by an average of 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points in 2016, and by as much as 1.4 to 1.8 percent of gross wages by 2019.

To contain these recent cost increases, the Federal Association of Health Studios Germany (BVGSD e.V.), supported by FID (Fitness Initiative Germany), is now calling for a radical rethink.

Prof. Dr. Theodor Stemper, 1st deputy chairman of the BVGSD: "For the future, it is absolutely necessary to move away from curative care with its constantly rising medical costs and numerous hospital stays towards more health care and maintenance through targeted muscle and cardio training, especially in quality-assured, health-oriented fitness studios. This is all the more important in view of the demographic development with more and more older people. Because particularly by the stronger consideration of the purposeful, controlled Fitnessstrainings in prevention like also rehablitation with its enormous Potenzial for the stabilization of the health costs in billion height could be saved - while at the same time the quality of life and life expectancy of the active ones increased clearly.
For it the way already taken with the new prevention law is to be strengthened further to more investments into the health care. So far there per insured person however only 7 euro per year are intended, while for illnesses per head about 1,500 euro per year must be spent.

However, according to Professor Dr. Stemper of the BVGSD, every euro more spent on health-oriented muscle training could help to significantly reduce the more than 300 billion euros spent on health care.

www.bvgsd.de

Over the BVGSD

The Federal association health studios Germany registered association (BVGSD) represents as employers' association the qualitatively high-quality working health studios in Germany. Since its founding in December 2013, BVGSD has been in dialogue with all social forces in the German fitness and health industry, German sports, politics and the legislative bodies of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The association defines quality criteria for fitness and health studios, which are subject to constant review and regularly adapted to current scientific findings, especially from training science and sports medicine.
In its fairly young history, the Bundesverband Gesundheitsstudios Deutschland e.V. has already achieved quite a bit. The political work that the BVGSD does together with the Fitness Initiative Germany (FID) in Berlin has already led to our industry being implemented in the newly passed Prevention Act as a possible service provider in terms of this law.

Source: F&G

Published on: 31 August 2015

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