Gerald Gaß, Chairman of the German Hospital Association, has strongly criticized the draft bill intended to stabilize the statutory health insurance system. Speaking to the “Handelsblatt” on Tuesday, Gaß stated that the board rejects the draft because it includes measures that will significantly worsen the existing hospital crisis without addressing the underlying causes driving cost increases. He noted that the financial burden imposed by the legislation would fall onto both patients and employees.
While the association head does not fundamentally reject the idea of achieving savings, he stressed a crucial condition: “The problem is that we are being presented with demands for savings without simultaneously being granted any design flexibility to lower our own costs”. He warned that because many hospitals are already running deficits, implementing mandated savings would only deepen these losses.
Gaß specifically identified the nursing budget as a major contributor to costs, pointing out that this was a measure imposed politically and not a recommendation originating from the hospital sector. Nevertheless, he argued that the provisions within the draft set incentives that are actually counterproductive to a functional economic system.
