High treatment costs
Family quintuples appeal for donations for Heinz Hoenig
21.05.2024, 23:32
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After the risky operation on the esophagus, further treatments are pending for Heinz Hoenig. And if this goes well, there will be lengthy care, reports his wife Annika. She estimates the costs at half a million euros and asks for further donations for the sick actor.
Heinz Hoenig is currently recovering in hospital after a risky operation on his esophagus. Given the circumstances, her husband has been doing well since he woke up from anesthesia after the operation that lasted several hours, his wife Annika Kärsten-Hoenig told RTL. A decision will be made in the next few days as to when Hoenig will have to undergo further surgery on the aorta. According to his wife, her husband has to be stable enough for this. If he survives the procedure on the main artery well, he can then leave the clinic and be cared for at home.
Because the 72-year-old does not have health insurance, his family has appealed for donations. Fans and fellow actors have now raised more than 162,000 euros for Hoenig “gofundme” platform donated to cover the costs of upcoming operations. The campaign, launched by Ralph Siegel’s agency “Siegelring”, has now raised the donation target again. Originally it was 100,000 euros. It was then raised to 150,000 euros and now the donation target is 500,000 euros.
In the current update of the site, the step is justified with “further, extremely expensive medical interventions”. The cost calculations that have been made so far are listed. Among other things, the removal of the esophagus (esophagectomy) would cost around 50,000 to 60,000 euros. The measures have already pushed them to the limits of their financial possibilities, they write. Accordingly, the costs for the major aorta operation alone are estimated at around 120,000 euros. In addition, there would be further care that would also have to be financed.
At the beginning of May it was announced that the 72-year-old actor was in the hospital. According to media reports, a bacterial infection damaged a stent in Hoenig’s heart and the aorta had to be replaced. In addition, the esophagus has a hole.
Too old for health insurance
Before the esophageal operation, his wife explained on the RTL program “stern TV am Sonntag” that an application for inclusion in the statutory health insurance company had been rejected. The conditions are not met. She doesn’t know what to do next. At the same time, she expressed her gratitude for the donations that have come in so far.
His management had also described that Hoenig “ultimately could no longer pay the health insurance contributions” due to a lack of orders. Since he is over 55 years old, this also makes the process of getting back into the health insurance more difficult, they said.
The actor is known to many from his roles in television films, for example he played in the 1980s hit “Das Boot” and also in television series by director Dieter Wedel from the 1990s (“Der große Bellheim”, “Der Schattenmann”, “Der König von St. Pauli”). Most recently he took part as a candidate in the RTL jungle camp in Australia.