Green Party members of the Bundestag are examining whether to take the issue to Karlsruhe in an effort to halt this week's vote on the health insurance reform, party co-leader Felix Banaszak has said. Writing in the Mediengruppe Bayern newspapers (Wednesday editions), Banaszak criticized short-notice changes to the draft law, which he described as "botched" and a "cuts bloodbath". "There are already members of parliament preparing legal steps," said the Green Party's co-chair.
Germany's statutory health insurance (GKV) is deep in the red: without reforms, a deficit of more than 15 billion euros is expected next year. By 2030, the shortfall could grow to around 40 billion euros. The federal government's draft law "on stabilizing contribution rates in statutory health insurance" therefore provides for massive cuts as well as additional costs for the insured. A vote on the draft is scheduled to take place in the Bundestag on Friday.
"We received amendments running to 278 pages at short notice," Banaszak told the Mediengruppe Bayern newspapers. "That isn't just amateurish and unprofessional, it's a gross disregard for our parliamentary work." His party expects the federal government "to allow for a reasonable deliberation of such a serious piece of legislation."
Banaszak called the law a "cuts bloodbath that endangers our healthcare provision." According to him, up to 140,000 jobs in hospitals could be lost. "The draft was botched and was rightly picked apart."
"Anyone who wants to push something as sensitive as our healthcare provision through parliament on a fast-track procedure will make mistakes," Banaszak said. "I see no reason to vote in favor of this law, but I also see no reason to bring it to a vote in the Bundestag at all this week." Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge had already announced that she would file a motion to remove the vote from the agenda, should the CDU/CSU and SPD insist on proceeding.
A motion to remove the item from this week's agenda would likely be voted on at the start of the plenary session on Wednesday afternoon (2:00 p.m.) during a procedural debate. If the Greens fail to secure a majority for their motion, the vote would go ahead as planned on Friday. The Bundesrat is also due to decide on the reform on the same day.
Individual members of parliament, however, can still appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court if, for example, they consider they have had insufficient time for deliberation.
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