Federal Minister for Health, Nina Warken (CDU), has defended the core principle that individuals must not go to work when unwell. She stated in an interview with the Rheinische Post that the ability to receive sick notes via telephone proved its worth during the extraordinary conditions of the pandemic. However, Warken also conceded that the telephone sick note system had significantly lowered the bar for obtaining a medical certificate. Because of this, she agreed that the system should be discontinued. She added that, moving forward, the government must ensure that patients can still easily utilize digital tools, such as video consultations with their primary care physician, a goal that will be reinforced through new regulations designed to curb misuse and boost digitalization in healthcare access.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) echoed these sentiments, stating that the goal is to reduce Germany’s high rates of sick leave, arguing that the country should revert to the rules that were in place before COVID-19. Merz commented that companies should be free to negotiate their own internal rules and pointed out that the situation among workers wasn’t drastically different before the pandemic either.
From the social democratic perspective, Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) insisted that anyone who is ill must still seek medical attention. He told RTL and ntv that the forthcoming legislation is crucial. Klingbeil defended the current agreement as a political compromise, highlighting that the SPD had successfully prevented the implementation of quarantine days without corresponding wage payments.
Conversely, Andreas Gassen, Chairman of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, issued a strong warning against the proposed changes, predicting a substantial increase in administrative bureaucracy and added strain on medical practices. Speaking to Welt, he argued that instead of tightening the sick note rules, they should abolish the requirement for the first three days of illness leave. Gassen deemed the decision to tighten the rules “entirely pointless.” He expressed concern that the requirement for medical certificates will force practices, which are already overwhelmed, to take on pointless extra work. The Chairman of the medical associations criticized the move, saying that the promise to relieve practices of bureaucracy was being completely undermined.
