Is CDU leader Merz playing into the AfD’s hands? Or did he want to point out that the state is being overburdened by increasing migration? The debate over his comments on dental treatments for asylum seekers continues. The communities are also speaking out.
After his controversial statements about the dental treatment of rejected asylum seekers in Germany, criticism of CDU leader Friedrich Merz continues: Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow accused him of running the AfD’s business with his statement.
“The AfD is kicking itself”
“The AfD is beating itself up, feels confirmed – and even supported by the confirmation of its clichés,” said the left-wing politician to the “Editorial Network Germany”. Anyone who uses resentment distracts from the actual problems of medical care, says Ramelow.
Merz had said in a discussion about migration policy on the television channel Welt: “They go crazy when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers are rejected, they don’t leave the country, they get the full benefits, they get the full medical care. They sit with the doctor and have their teeth remade, and the German citizens next door don’t get any appointments.”
Initially only acute medical care
The SPD and the Greens then reacted indignantly. In fact, asylum seekers – including tolerated people whose application was rejected – only receive acute medical care for the first 18 months, but then have almost full access to the health system.
Municipalities: High three-digit Amount in millions
In view of the debate about dental visits for rejected asylum seekers, the German Association of Cities and Municipalities has estimated the costs of health care for asylum seekers to be in the high three-digit million range per year.
“The total expenditure for medical care for refugees in 2022 amounted to 690 million euros,” said General Manager Gerd Landsberg of the “Bild” newspaper. This corresponds to just over ten percent of the total expenditure under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act of 6.5 billion euros, he added. The main challenges for the municipalities are, above all, “the high numbers, the poorly organized procedures and the lack of accommodation,” emphasized Landsberg.
Backing from Wüst
In the Union, Merz received more support for his statements. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst explained that Merz only wanted to draw attention to the general burden on the state, society and social systems caused by the sharp increase in irregular migration.
“There are a lot of people who are currently worried about the cohesion of society. Everyone who looks after refugees is currently at their limit, whether it’s the municipalities, whether it’s the schools, the daycare centers, the kindergartens. The refugee helpers also tell us that it’s just really too much. That also applies to the social security systems, and I think that’s what Friedrich Merz wanted to point out,” said Wüst.