Health
Lauterbach defends relief plans for general practitioner practices
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to improve working conditions for practices so that more young doctors become family doctors. photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Local health care should be more secure. The minister justifies necessary additional expenditure. He also wants to keep an eye on changes to homeopathic remedies.
In order to counteract this, working conditions need to be significantly improved so that more young doctors become family doctors. Lauterbach also justified additional expenditure against criticism from the health insurance companies. “If we no longer have family doctors in a few years, the costs will go down.” But that cannot be the perspective of the citizens.
A planned law is intended to provide greater security for local supplies. According to a draft, upper remuneration limits (budgets) should be eliminated for general practitioners. An annual flat rate is intended to prevent chronically ill people from having to go to practices again and again to get a prescription. In regions with many socially disadvantaged people, health kiosks are to be created: easily accessible advice centers for treatment and prevention that are run by a nurse.
Lauterbach: Homeopathic care will no longer be reimbursed
Lauterbach made it clear that with the law he was also aiming to end homeopathic services as possible additional health insurance benefits. This should be discussed in the parliamentary process. It is a complicated discussion and not all coalition partners find it easy.
His position is clear: “Homeopathic care should not be reimbursed by health insurance companies.” These are treatments that do not work. The health insurance companies shouldn’t pay for this, otherwise “patients and citizens could get the wrong impression that homeopathy works, which it demonstrably doesn’t.”
Traffic light partners disagree
The FDP health expert Andrew Ullmann spoke out in favor of eliminating the budget for general practitioner and specialist services. However, he rejected “the introduction of expensive double structures through health kiosks, without demonstrable added value for patients.”
Difficult deliberations on the law are looming. The FDP accused Lauterbach of not adhering to government agreements to avoid internal disputes. Liberal government circles said he sent the draft to coordination between the ministries without informally agreed early coordination. In early coordination, the Chancellery, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, i.e. the coalition leadership, usually discuss a draft of a ministry. Fundamental concerns should be raised early on.
The Greens had warned the FDP that these overdue structural reforms should under no circumstances be further delayed or even blocked in the cabinet.