Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to give drug manufacturers more profits. This should fill the shelves in the pharmacies again with cough syrup and cancer preparations. But that’s wishful thinking. The Germans already spend the most money on medicines in Europe.
There is something in healthcare that no one likes to talk about, but without which nothing works. This universal agent that is supposed to solve all problems is called money. If there aren’t enough nurses in front of a sickbed, it’s said: “Salaries have to rise.” If the waiting room is too full, the solution is: “The doctors have to earn more.” And now, when there is a shortage of fever syrup, antibiotics or cancer drugs in the pharmacies, the solution is: “The prices have to go up.” Many health experts, or who consider themselves to be believers, apparently believe in the power of mammon, loosely based on William Shakespeare: “Where money goes first, all roads are open.”