Karl-Josef Laumann, the Minister of Health for North Rhine-Westphalia (CDU), has indicated that the federal health reform proposed by Nina Warken (CDU) requires several refinements. While supporting the overall objective of the reform undertaken by his party colleague, Laumann stressed that “we are facing significant challenges in financing our health system”.
He argued that sweeping financial and structural reforms are necessary to ensure that future generations can benefit from the solidarity system. Without such adjustments, contributions to statutory health insurance will continue to rise. Consequently, he supports the concept of an income-oriented expenditure policy, meaning that sickness funds should only spend the resources they collect, a principle that must apply to all performance areas.
However, Laumann demanded that any resulting savings be distributed fairly. He noted that the withdrawal of the preferred status clause in 2026 had already brought €1.8 billion toward the stabilization of statutory health insurance. The current draft of the contribution rate stabilization law grants a high share of these savings to the hospital sector, yet these institutions are already struggling financially.
Furthermore, hospitals are currently undergoing a phase of comprehensive structural transformation due to the pending hospital reform. Laumann emphasized the importance of designing necessary consolidation and transformation measures in a way that does not threaten the security of care or result in uncontrolled structural changes. He therefore suggested that the rules contained in the legislative draft concerning the state base case value and the removal of the preferred status clause should be reviewed again.
Additionally, the CDU politician believes the financial measures must be structured to enable hospitals to fund wage increases for their staff. Laumann stated that “wage increases and loyalty to agreements are politically demanded, especially in the health sector”. These measures must not contradict the goals of improving working conditions, and the advancements made in financing care personnel costs should be continuously taken into account.
