National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds: Warken's savings plans are insufficient to stabilize contributions / Chairman Blatt also calls for cuts in pharmaceuticals and medicine - Before hearing and adoption

Osnabrück (ots) – Ahead of the Bundestag hearing on Health Minister Nina Warken's (CDU) austerity package this Monday, health insurance funds have demanded additional cuts in pharmaceuticals and physicians' fees. "If further cost-cutting measures are not implemented, then the supplementary contributions will rise to an average of over three percent next year," said Oliver Blatt, Chairman of the Board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband), in an interview with the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" (NOZ, Monday edition). "This burdens the insured, it burdens employers, and nobody needs that in our current economic situation." The current "small austerity package," which hospitals in particular are already vehemently opposing, "is insufficient; more measures are needed," Blatt told the newspaper. Politicians have until the end of the year to implement a "more ambitious, comprehensive austerity package" to reduce the increase in expenditures to such an extent that contributions can truly remain stable on average. All major groups must contribute to this. "Therefore, it would be necessary and appropriate to demand a serious contribution to savings from the pharmaceutical industry and practicing physicians," Blatt emphasized.

General practitioners received bonuses for arranging appointments, but no improvement in waiting times was apparent. On top of that, there had been a flawed double funding arrangement. "At least 400 million euros could be saved here," declared the health insurance funds, issuing a challenge to the medical profession. The head of the statutory health insurance funds demanded a legally mandated increase in the manufacturer's discount as a "short-term solidarity measure from the pharmaceutical industry." "That would bring in over a billion euros," he asserted. The pharmaceutical industry had profited greatly from the contribution-based system in recent years. "We need more cost control, especially in the area of ​​new drugs, as expenditures are spiraling out of control with sharply rising drug prices."

Warken's "small" savings package, totaling two billion euros, has already passed the cabinet. Following the hearing this Monday, it is expected to be approved by the Bundestag on Thursday. Hospitals are slated to contribute the lion's share of 1.8 billion euros, prompting them to warn of a wave of hospital insolvencies. Meanwhile, the head of the statutory health insurance funds (GKV), Blatt, stated that he "cannot understand the hospitals' complaints about their contribution to the savings." He argued that even with the proposed cuts, hospitals will receive an additional 500 million euros per month next year. "No hospital will have anything taken away, but the increase in their revenue will be limited to a reasonable level," the association head said. The so-called most-favored-nation clause, "which has provided hospitals with unjustified additional income for years," will be abolished. Press contact: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung Editorial Department Telephone: +49(0)541/310 207 Original content from: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, transmitted by news aktuell Original report: https://www.presseportal.de/pm/58964/6149512