During the dispute surrounding the healthcare savings package, Jens Baas, the head of the Techniker Krankenkasse, accused the red-black coalition of protecting the pharmaceutical industry and yielding to the corporations’ threats. Speaking to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” Baas stated that the government must not allow itself to be blackmailed by the pharmaceutical industry. He added that politics underestimates its own power while overestimating that of the pharmaceutical giants. He noted that even in the United States, where President Donald Trump puts manufacturers under massive pressure, no corporation is withdrawing. Baas urged that during the parliamentary discussions, the pharmaceutical industry’s contribution to savings must be significantly increased.
Baas dismissed the common argument put forth by pharmaceutical lobbyists-that there is a direct link between the decision to research and produce in a country and the price of medicines-as nonsense. He also called the industry’s threat to withdraw certain drugs from the German market if prices are too low as unbelievable. According to him, Germany has some of the highest drug prices in the world, making it impossible for any pharmaceutical corporation to afford pulling out of one of the planet’s most interesting markets.
Baas also criticized the ongoing coalition debate about reducing the number of health insurance funds. He deemed the discussion a political diversionary tactic, suggesting that the potential efficiency savings would be marginal even in the best-case scenario. He pointed out that most employees of an insurance fund deal with the specific concerns of the insured people. “To put it simply, there are hardly any possible savings when it comes to personnel” he said. Furthermore, he criticized the planned salary cap for the management staff of insurance funds as being counterproductive. Baas argued that insurance funds require highly qualified individuals, since they must negotiate from an equal footing with doctors, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry. “Only top-tier professionals can ensure that the contribuable members get the best deal out of such negotiations” the head of the fund warned.