Ines Schwerdtner, the chair of the Left, called the CDU Economic Council’s plan to eliminate publicly funded dental care a “frontal attack on 90 percent of the people in this country”. She told the “Spiegel” that the proposal is evidence of the “beautiful new world of the Economic Union”. “We’ll keep our houses clean, look after our children, and make roads safer – but you’ll have to pay for your own teeth” she said.
Schwerdtner warned that ordinary workers, who are already stretched thin, will soon face a hard choice: “Will you get a filling at the dentist or lunch for your children?” she asked.
She added that poorer citizens are more frequently ill, suffer greater health problems, and die significantly earlier. “We need a serious reform” she urged. “The Union must stop treating the welfare state as a problem and start seeing it as the stabilising anchor of our society”.
The criticism centres on the CDU Economic Council’s reform package, which proposes that dental treatments be insured privately and no longer be borne by public contributors. The same paper also recommends cuts to unemployment benefits.