As voting approaches in the Bundestag and Bundesrat, general practitioners are urgently calling for a halt to the Statutory Health Insurance (GKV) reform. Nicola Buhlinger-Göpfarth, chairwoman of the General Practitioners’ Association, warned the “Rheinische Post” that the Bundesrat must stop this perceived “misguided journey.” She stated that if the “asparagus law” (referring to the specific reform) proceeds as planned, it will result in a “complete fiasco” for both family doctor practices and their patients.
According to Buhlinger-Göpfarth, if both the federal government and the states wish to maintain adequate local primary care for their citizens, this legislation must be blocked. The consequences of implementing these cuts, she explained, would be that local care would become unavailable in increasingly fewer regions, patients would face longer waiting times for appointments, and the time allotted for treatment would be reduced.
The association chairperson further elaborated that the law would significantly degrade patient care. “This is happening at a time when family doctor practices offer the only quickly reachable care for many people,” she stressed. She also indicated that efforts to modernize practices and hire new staff would suffer under these budgetary reductions.
The reform law is intended by the CDU/CSU (Union) and SPD to achieve substantial savings across various sectors of the healthcare system. The Bundestag is scheduled to vote on the law this Friday.
