Two weeks after the Financial Commission for Health published its report on stabilizing contribution rates in statutory health insurance, Federal Minister of Health Nina Warken (CDU) unveiled her austerity package. During a statement in Berlin on Tuesday, she indicated that her proposed package would be guided by two main principles. First, she stated that future increases in prices and reimbursements across all areas of services would be linked to the development of revenues. She clarified that this is not a blanket cut, but rather a limitation on future expenditure increases relative to real revenue growth, adding that “we simply cannot spend more money than we take in”.
The second guiding principle is that expenditures for insured persons must demonstrate verifiable benefits. Consequently, she asserted that “regulations that do not meet this requirement can no longer be funded”. Given the financial difficulties, she stressed that every sector and stakeholder must contribute, otherwise, “we simply cannot cover the deficit”.
Overall, Warken intends to implement more than three-quarters of the measures proposed by the Financial Commission. Specifically, she plans to permanently remove the so-called preferential clause in the inpatient sector. Furthermore, she suggests limiting growth in the nursing care budget and advancing the gradual introduction of a mandatory second opinion procedure.
In the contracted doctor sector, the proposal includes eliminating extra-budgetary reimbursements for services provided during open consultation hours or in referral cases. For health insurance funds, she suggests capping administrative expenses and cutting advertising expenditures by half.
According to Warken, these measures could save nearly twelve billion euros next year. However, the minister also warned that this would “still not be enough” adding that to truly cover the deficit sustainably, both insured persons and employers must contribute. Nevertheless, she cautioned that without such measures, the burden on insured persons and employers would “be many times higher than with the reform”.