The pharmacist explains: “On the other hand, what we get out per pack of medication has not increased in the last 15 years.”

The pharmacy receives a fixed fee of 8.35 euros per prescription medication package plus a surcharge of three percent. However, 1.77 euros of this goes to the health insurance companies. The pharmacies have to use what is left over to cover their personnel, rental and acquisition costs. And it’s no longer worth it. Increasing competitive pressure comes from the Internet. More and more patients are filling their prescriptions Mail order pharmacies and no longer in a local branch.

A pharmacy in Germany closes every 20 hours

As Sat.1-NRW reports, 92 pharmacies in North Rhine-Westphalia will have closed in 2025 alone. A pharmacy nationwide should therefore close every 20 hours. That’s why they left on Monday Pharmacists are taking to the streets in many German citiesto demonstrate against this imbalance. Tobias Preis from the German Pharmacists Association warns: “Pharmacies have been economically neglected by politicians for decades. The last increase in our fees was 13 years ago – and this increase was only a measly 3 percent.”

However, they pay the pharmacist’s fees Health insurance companies – and ultimately the contributors. And they are already groaning under the increased contribution costs.