Following criticism from local general practitioners, Andreas Gassen, the Chairman of the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), has also critiqued the savings plans put forward by Federal Minister of Health Nina Warken (CDU) and warned that the concept of a primary care system is set to fail.
Speaking to the “Rheinische Post” on Friday, Gassen stated: “It is completely incomprehensible how a primary care system is supposed to operate given the statutory health insurance savings plans presented by Federal Minister of Health Nina Warken”.
He further elaborated that “all previously existing financial incentives intended to guide patients appropriately for general practitioners are slated for elimination. Simultaneously, there is a lack of political will to create clear obligations for patients. How can the government seriously expect that general practitioners will continue to work more with even less money?”
Previously, the association for general practitioners had deemed Warken’s savings plans “completely unplanned” and labelled them a “destruction program for general practice offices”. They added that establishing the so-called primary care system would thus be impossible.