Gerald Gaß, the Chairman of the Board of the German Hospital Association, has sharply criticized the proposed bill aimed at stabilizing the statutory health insurance system. Speaking to the “Handelsblatt” (Tuesday edition), Gaß stated, “We reject this draft law because it contains measures that will significantly worsen the already existing crisis within hospitals without addressing the root causes of the cost escalation”. He emphasized that the burden of these measures would ultimately fall upon employees and patients.
However, the association leader does not reject cost-saving measures in principle. “The problem is that they impose savings on us without simultaneously granting us the necessary leeway to lower our own costs” he noted. He pointed out that many hospitals are already operating at a deficit, adding, “If savings are imposed there, it will only drive those red figures even deeper into the negative”. Gaß identified the care budget, which he stated was politically mandated, as a central driver of rising costs. According to Gaß, this budget was “not a proposal from the hospitals” but it established incentives that, in an economic system context, are counterproductive.