How economists and politicians want to save the health insurance companies

Berlin Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has apparently put the red pencil aside. He recently explained in an interview with the Handelsblatt that he no longer sees any scope for cuts in health spending.

Germany recently spent 440 billion euros on health, more per capita than almost any other country in the world. Around half of this is borne by the statutory health insurance funds, which have been running higher and higher deficits for years. The result: policyholders have to pay record premiums this year.

Economists and cash representatives are therefore sounding the alarm and calling for an emergency brake on spending. The GKV is facing “historic increases in contributions”, warns the economist Martin Werding. Without additional tax money and with growing expenses, Lauterbach would have no other choice. In the process, “money is wasted in many places in the healthcare system,” explained the economics professor at the Ruhr University in Bochum.

Werding calls for a debate on cuts and a “serious financial reform of the GKV”. Because rising contributions also mean rising non-wage labor costs, which are a “massive risk for international competitiveness”.