The Greens want to improve the recently passed hospital reform after the federal election. This is evident from the draft of the party’s election program, as reported by the “Tagesspiegel”.
According to the draft, “not only the statutory, but also the private insurance companies should participate in the costs”. The reform proposed by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) currently envisions a transformation fund of 25 billion euros for the modernization of clinics, to be filled by the contributions of statutory health insurance fund members. Experts criticize this, but consider it legally complex to oblige private insurance companies as well.
The Greens promise in their program to relieve the contributors to the care and health insurance funds. “Our healthcare and care system is there to heal sick people and care for those in need of care” the draft paper says, which will be officially presented on Tuesday.
In the document, the Greens criticize that in the past, too many costs have been shifted to the insurance companies, which should actually be financed from tax revenues. “We want to reverse this trend and thus relieve the insured and employers from insurance-related services” the paper says. Specifically, the contributions for recipients of basic income should be “more reasonably financed through the state”.
Also, people who care for their sick relatives should be better supported by the state, according to the Greens’ plans. “Who reduces their working hours for care, needs financial support in the form of a time-limited compensation for lost income” the program draft says. This is likely to expand the existing care allowance. Furthermore, the benefit should be designed so that several people can share the care. In Germany, around 2.5 million people are cared for by relatives, according to the care statistics.