Federal Health Minister Nina Warken's (CDU) austerity measures are threatening the planned primary care system, according to family doctors. The Federal Chairman of the Family Doctors' Association, Markus Blumenthal-Beier, called the minister's plans "completely planless" in the "Rheinische Post" on Friday. On one hand, family doctors are expected to take on even more responsibilities in the future, "on the other hand, the budget is being massively cut in exactly this area."
The Union and SPD agreed on the introduction of a primary care or primary care system in their coalition agreement. According to this, the family doctor should be the first point of contact for patients in the future. A specialist should only be consulted after that. This is intended to reduce doctor visits and thus save costs. Minister Warken wants to present an initial draft law on this by summer.
The austerity law is "nothing other than a destruction program for family doctor practices," said Blumenthal-Beier. For patients, the plans would mean that family doctor care would become "noticeably worse."
"If the minister pushes through her statutory health insurance austerity law in this form and massively cuts family doctor practices, then the primary care system will not be achievable," warned the Family Doctors' Association chairman. "The minister is torpedoing her own reform agenda. This is absolutely reckless." The Family Doctors' Association called on the black-red government coalition to "correct this mistake before it is too late."
The head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, also criticized Warken's austerity plans and warned of the failure of the primary care system. It is "completely incomprehensible" to him how a primary care system should look in light of Warken's statutory health insurance austerity plans, Gassen told the "Rheinische Post."
All financial incentives for practitioners to meaningfully guide patients should be eliminated, Gassen criticized. At the same time, there is a lack of political will to create obligations for patients. "How can politics seriously expect that the practicing colleagues will perform even more work for even less money?"
The health minister's reform plans are also alarming hospital operators and nursing staff. In an open letter to the federal government, available to the newspapers of the Funke Media Group, the works councils of more than 20 hospital groups and university hospitals warn of serious consequences for nursing care should Warken's savings be implemented in their current form.
"All successes of recent years in making the healthcare sector a more attractive workplace are in danger of being undone," states the letter, which was sent to Health Minister Warken as well as to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil (SPD), Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD), and the leaders of the government parliamentary groups.
"The currently available plans will have massive effects on the work of colleagues who give everything every day on the wards, in functional areas, in diagnostics, therapy, service, technology and administration for good care of patients," the works councils warn. In total, the signatory works councils reportedly represent around 323,000 employees.
Warken wants to cap the nursing budget introduced in 2020 and ensure that collective bargaining increases for nursing staff are no longer fully refinanced. The hospitals themselves would have to bear the additional costs. However, the economic situation of many of them is already tense.
The chairman of the service union Verdi, Frank Werneke, warned that the situation in nursing could worsen – and some clinics could even face closure. Teams in nursing are often already understaffed, Werneke told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group. If collective bargaining increases are no longer refinanced, hospitals would have no choice but to cut staff. For patients, this means worse care and for nursing staff even more pressure and stress.
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