It’s not just in politics that there is headwind for Merz’s statements about dental treatment for asylum seekers – the head of dentists also contradicts: He “cannot understand” the CDU leader’s statements; there is “no connection.”
The Federal Dental Association has rejected CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s statements about dental treatments for asylum seekers as inaccurate. “To be honest, I cannot understand Friedrich Merz’s statements,” said the President of the Chamber, Christoph Benz, to “Wirtschaftswoche”. “It’s usually easy to get appointments at the dentist.”
Merz said on Wednesday in a talk show on the “Welt” channel: “They’ll go crazy when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers have been rejected, won’t leave the country, get full benefits, get full medical care. They sit with the doctor and get their teeth remade, and the German citizens next door don’t get any appointments.”
Benz contradicted this and stated that there was “no connection”. Waiting times in rural areas are due to the low density of dentists. “Anyone who has severe pain will always receive preferential treatment,” emphasized the head of dentists and warned against “problematic blanket statements.” “The current political bluster doesn’t solve any problems.”
“That doesn’t usually work”
The treatment of refugees and asylum seekers is not causing any extraordinary workload for dentists “at the moment,” continued Benz. When refugees arrived in 2015 and 2016, there was “noticeably more work,” but at that time there were “many unresolved issues.” “That’s better regulated now.”
Benz also contradicted the CDU leader in the “FAZ”: “It’s not usually possible for refugees to have their teeth done in Germany, as Friedrich Merz said.” There are restrictions on services, especially when it comes to cosmetic aspects. Although no treatment is refused in the event of pain, there is a legal right to dentures only if this “cannot be postponed for medical reasons”. This is the case, for example, if someone lost their removable prosthesis while fleeing.
Gassen also distances himself
The head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, also distanced himself from Merz. “Patients have to wait for appointments and will have to wait even longer for a doctor’s appointment in the future. However, the reason for this is not rejected asylum seekers, but a chronically underfunded health system,” Gassen told ZDF.
The entitlement to benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act is fundamentally not comparable to the catalog of benefits provided by statutory health insurance, Gassen continued. It’s just about the health-related subsistence level. “Legally, there is a difference in the treatment between rejected and accepted asylum seekers. But in practice this is often difficult to achieve. If a patient comes to the practice in pain, he will of course be treated – regardless of his residence status.” Furthermore, it cannot be the responsibility of doctors to refuse services that go beyond the minimum.
The social association VdK also rejected Merz’s claims. “The problem of getting a doctor’s appointment is not due to the presence of asylum seekers, but rather to the injustice of the two-tier system in the healthcare system,” VdK President Verena Bentele told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Those with private insurance receive an appointment with a specialist immediately, while those with statutory health insurance have to wait for months.” This “system error” has been known for a long time, but is ignored by politicians.
Criticism from politics
There was also a lot of criticism of Merz’s statements from politicians. “This is pathetic populism on the backs of the weakest. Anyone who speaks like that is playing people off against each other and only strengthening the AfD,” wrote Interior Minister Faeser on the online service X (formerly Twitter). In addition, Merz’s claims are false: “Asylum seekers are only treated if they are acutely ill or suffering from pain.”
The Green Party leader Ricarda Lang made a similar statement. Merz “consciously plays groups off against each other, spreading false information. This doesn’t solve a single problem, but it fuels hatred,” she wrote on X. That was “unworthy of the chairman of a people’s party.”
Clear legal situation regarding sickness benefits
Paragraph 4 of the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act states: “The treatment of acute illnesses and pain conditions includes the necessary medical and dental treatment, including the provision of medicines and bandages, as well as other services required for the recovery, improvement or alleviation of illnesses or the consequences of illness to grant.”
The following is restricted: “Dentures will only be provided if this cannot be postponed for medical reasons in individual cases.”
After the first 18 months of their stay (so-called waiting period), asylum seekers and tolerated persons are looked after by statutory health insurance companies.