Dagmar Schmidt, the deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group, has expressed support for Health Minister Carsten Linnemann’s plan for the Care Reform, adding that the parties desire the legislative proposals to be approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. “To be completely clear: we need this care reform, we want it, and we want to see it approved by the Cabinet this Wednesday,” Schmidt told the “Rheinische Post”.
However, the SPD politician stressed that for her, reform does not mean simply cutting services listed in catalogs. Instead, she argued that it must involve fundamentally reorganizing existing structures rather than just reducing benefits. Schmidt referenced a statement made by the Chancellor last week regarding a problem of justice arising from the coexistence of private and public insurance systems. She stated, “We like to take his words to heart: the time is ripe for a common system, or at least a fair financial balance between the two systems.”
Schmidt added that such a form of balance already exists within both the public and private insurance sectors today. She advocated for extending this established practice of solidarity across the entire system.
