Verena Bentele, president of the Social Association VdK, warned against cuts to services for statutory health‑insured members. She told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group during its Saturday editions that the VdK expects the commission’s proposals to relieve contributors and to avoid reductions in care. “Structural reforms that balance income and expenditure are essential – but they must not endanger the quality of care” she stressed.
Bentele spoke before the health finance commission’s Monday briefing, which will present a catalogue of 60 cost‑saving measures for the health sector. “Everyone must contribute: the federal government should cover society‑wide responsibilities in the GKV, and service providers should be subject to a temporary expenditure moratorium – that is a matter of justice” she said.
She also called for a more balanced financing model that raises the contribution assessment ceiling in the GKV and incorporates additional income sources. “The VdK firmly rejects the elimination of free family insurance as a hidden increase in contributions. This contradicts the solidaristic principle of the GKV and would disproportionately burden women and low‑income families” Bentele added. She warned that higher patient copayments for drugs or a return to the traditional practice fee would constitute an “unsocial additional burden” hitting chronically ill patients, the elderly and those on low incomes most severely.