The Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband, a prominent German social welfare organization, has sharply condemned a proposal by the Association of Statutory Health Physicians (KBV) to reintroduce fees for patient visits, warning it would disproportionately impact low-income individuals and exacerbate existing financial instability within the healthcare system.
Speaking to Funke-Mediengruppe newspapers, Paritätische General Secretary Joachim Rock characterized the proposed “contact fee” tentatively priced at three to four euros per visit and intended to be collected by health insurers, as a “rehash of a failed policy”. He argued that such fees create an unnecessary burden on both patients and medical practices, hindering access to care and ultimately driving up costs due to delayed treatment. Rock warned that necessary interventions would be postponed, leading to more complex and expensive health issues later.
The KBV’s chairman, Andreas Gassen, had advocated for the fee as a measure to supposedly improve healthcare efficiency. However, Rock dismissed this as a “toothless placebo” accusing the KBV of avoiding substantive structural reforms that could genuinely improve patient care. He specifically criticized the proposal for implicitly assuming inappropriate levels of healthcare utilization by patients.
Rock’s critique zeroed in on what he perceives as the true drivers of healthcare costs: excessive profits within the private healthcare sector and the continued failure to integrate high-income earners into the statutory health insurance system via a citizen’s insurance model. This omission, he contends, shields wealthier individuals from contributing proportionally to the system’s financial sustainability, placing undue pressure on those with lower incomes and necessitating measures like the proposed visit fees. The debate highlights a deepening political divide regarding the long-term viability and equitable distribution of resources within Germany’s healthcare landscape, raising questions about the prioritization of short-term fixes versus fundamental systemic reforms.
