The GKV-Spitzenverband, the top association of statutory health insurers, has warned the federal government against watering down planned healthcare savings just before the bill is passed. Association chief Oliver Blatt told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that there is currently much debate about whether cuts to the pharmaceutical industry and doctors should be reversed. “That would be exactly the wrong approach, because in the end it would make things more expensive for everyone,” Blatt said.
Without bold reforms, further premium increases are looming, as insurers’ expenses are rising twice as fast as revenues. “If we don’t act quickly and decisively, our finances will blow up in our faces at the turn of the year,” the GKV chief said. The multibillion-euro savings package is intended to close an expected funding gap of 18.8 billion euros next year, partly by limiting payments to doctors’ practices, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Blatt called on the Bundestag to resist lobbying pressure from the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, and doctors. Insured individuals and employers have already contributed more than their fair share, he said, pointing to higher additional premiums and planned increases in co-payments and the contribution assessment ceiling. The law is scheduled to be passed in the Bundestag next week.
Source: www.zeit.de
