Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) said she will only partially adopt the cost‑saving proposals put forward by the Finance Commission for Health. “I won’t take the commission’s suggestions wholesale” she told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on Saturday. This is especially true for the recommendation to restrict the free joint insurance coverage of spouses and partners in public sickness funds.
The commission wishes to exempt only retirees and those whose children are still not in compulsory schooling. Warken feels the exceptions are too limited. “People who provide care for family members contribute so significantly that I find it hard to justify burdening them financially at this point” she said.
She marked other proposed savings as questionable. She opposed curtailing unsolicited skin‑cancer screenings and limiting the number of braces given to children. At the same time, she welcomed a plan to raise patients’ out‑of‑pocket share for drugs by half, to €7.50-€10.00 per package. “The suggestion to moderately raise the co‑payment at pharmacies after more than twenty years is understandable” she told the paper.
Warken also supported the idea of no longer paying physicians extra for potential additional appointments. “The Federal Court of Auditors has criticized that the extra payment outside the budget did not reduce waiting times. We cannot ignore that”. She said it is correct to question such an instrument.
She criticized reactions from private doctors, saying it is wrong that contract doctors now threaten that less money will mean even fewer appointments and poorer care. “We can’t keep pointing the finger at others when we cut costs” she added.
The minister expressed empathy for criticism from the pharmaceutical industry. Companies reject the proposal to double the medication discount to health insurers to 14%. They face significant challenges, including customs threats from former U.S. President Donald Trump, Warken acknowledged. “We must take the risks to Germany’s industrial location seriously. We can’t call for greater resilience, supply security, or relocation without taking steps to keep the industry in the country”.
While pointing out that the pharmaceutical sector also bears some savings responsibility, Warken said that relief is needed elsewhere, such as in regulation and bureaucracy. She is confident that the planned savings measures can freeze the average surcharge for health insurance at 2.9 % until 2030. She intends to submit the bill by July.
In coalition with the SPD, she expects contentious debate. “But I’m confident that everyone understands their responsibility. The status quo can’t continue, especially if we want to preserve the solidarity community” she told the newspaper. “I’m currently assembling a package that may not please every political stakeholder, but it can pass in a majority”.
