How to request medical cannabis coverage from your health insurance in Germany

Overcoming the difficulties of having German health insurance cover your medical cannabis costs



While it is time-consuming, requires patience and is definitely not a guaranteed success, it is possible to have your German health insurance cover your medical cannabis costs.

The first thing to do is to speak with a doctor as only they can recommend that your treatment requires medical cannabis. For this, patients must suffer from a severe illness for which standard therapeutic options have been exhausted, are not tolerated, or are deemed ineffective. The doctor must further determine that cannabis offers a reasonable prospect of symptom relief.

The first thing to do is to speak with a doctor as only they can recommend that your treatment requires medical cannabis

The request must be submitted to the Krankenkasse before the prescription is issued and is a two part process: your own written request, plus the doctor’s assessment that the treatment represents the best therapy for the patient. The health insurance has then up to four weeks to respond to your request – this falls to three days in the case of palliative care.

Any doctor is able to help with the application. However, if they hold a Facharzt für Allgemeinmedizin or a Facharzt für Innere Medizin title (which is what most Hausazt doctors hold) their need for an approval is waived. This does not mean that they will be willing to support your request for medical cannabis therapy and many doctors will still apply for approval voluntarily, or hesitate to prescribe cannabis at all.

So the real question to ask your Hausarzt isn't “are you allowed to skip the approval” but “will you prescribe, and do you want to apply anyway.” Many will prefer the application for their own protection, and that's a legitimate choice on their part.

As of July 30th 2026 any new treatment has to start with an approved cannabis-containing medication, including products containing Dronabinol or Nabilon. This explicitly excludes dried flowers as these are considered too recreational-adjacent.

The possibility of obtaining coverage from your Krankenkasse is real, but the process is time-consuming and not all doctors will be obliging.


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• The medical and recreational cannabis situation in Germany
• A short medical cannabis glossary
• The impact of medical and recreational cannabis legalization in Germany