BERLIN, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- More patients paid a dentist a visit in Germany after the elimination of the consultation fee at the beginning of 2013, the latest German National Association figures showed.
The number of treatment cases rose in the first quarter of 2013 by 2.6 percent to about 20.7 million compared to the same quarter last year. In the second quarter, 21.8 million patients went to the dentist, 5.8 percent more than in the same period last year.
Due to good financial state of health insurance, German coalition government scrapped the fee according to the requirements of the Free Democrats Party.
Previously, insured patients in Germany had to pay 10 euros (13.45 U.S. dollars) for a doctor, dentist or psychotherapist visit between 2004 and the end of 2012.
According to the current coalition negotiations between the conservative Union and the Social Democratic Party in Germany, health insurance will slip into the red again in 2015.
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