Following warnings from doctors regarding increasingly long waiting times for specialist appointments, politicians from the CSU and SPD are urging for counter-measures. Klaus Holetschek, the CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bavarian State Parliament, noted to the “Bild” that there is an imbalance in how quickly insured patients-both under public and private health insurance-can access specialist care. He fears that existing austerity measures will only exacerbate this disparity.
As a short-term measure, Holetschek suggested making changes to online booking portals. He advocated that such portals should not be allowed to inquire whether a patient is covered by public or private insurance when scheduling an appointment.
Christos Pantazis, a health policy politician from the SPD, also called for concrete consequences. He stated to the newspaper that it should not depend on one’s insurance status how quickly a person can receive a specialist consultation, emphasizing that medical urgency should be the decisive factor, not the type of insurance coverage held.
Pantazis further pushed for the introduction of an “appointment guarantee.” The SPD politician outlined their proposal: fundamentally, it would ensure a specialist appointment within three weeks, though sooner if medical urgency demands it. He added that if this appointment could not be secured at a general practitioner’s office, a suitable hospital outpatient clinic should be able to take over the treatment.
