Financial pressure on statutory health insurance companies is increasing. Therefore, Health Minister Warken considers change inevitable. However, it does not include the cost of all doctor visits.
Federal Health Minister Nina Warken rejected the introduction of new practice fees. In ARD interview this week said the CDU politician, referring to fees imposed from 2004 to 2012: “At that time they were very bureaucratic and did not lead to society being better managed or the system better financed.” However, fees for specialist visits without a referral may be charged.
Instead of the “contact fees” imposed by employers’ associations, Warken is relying on a primary doctor system he is planning, in which family doctors should be the first point of contact before patients go to a specialist. “We are doing too many double checks and emergency rooms are overloaded,” the minister said. He also wants to make the job of a family doctor more attractive again, for example by reducing bureaucracy and expanding the skills of medical assistants and pharmacies.
Warken doesn’t want to rule out potential savings
The solution to health insurance financing reform cannot yet be predicted. The savings package for the compulsory health insurance fund approved by the Cabinet and the Bundestag was not accepted by the Federal Council. The state chamber sent the Nursing Competency Act to the mediation committee yesterday – the savings package is also linked to this. A majority of the country criticized the fact that cuts by health insurance companies meant hospitals lacked the money they needed.
“We don’t want to break the system,” Warken said, defending the federal government’s plans. “In recent years we have continued to improve our performance.” Now we have to take a closer look at what can still be financed. The Minister did not rule out reducing services; change is inevitable – including for hospitals. “The question is what exactly is meant by reduced benefits.” The ideas here are very different.
“We should not rule anything out from the start,” the minister said, citing, for example, higher co-payments or the elimination of free co-insurance for couples. However, the age limit for obtaining expensive drugs is still taboo for them. Recently, CDU politician Hendrik Streeck’s proposal caused discussion. He has raised the question of whether very expensive drugs should be prescribed to very elderly people when the benefit is likely to be very low.
The Minister of Health also wants subsidies from the federal budget to mandatory health insurance (GKV) to automatically increase periodically in the future. “We also have to face the question of the dynamism of federal tax subsidies for health funding; these have been stagnating for years,” Warken told Welt am Sonntag given the much higher health care costs.
TK bosses believe higher contributions are inevitable
After the austerity package was stalled in the Federal Council, the head of Techniker Krankenkassen (TK), Jens Baas, predicted a wave of premium increases in the coming year. “I expect a lot of premium increases in 2026, also because health insurance companies will have to continue adding reserves,” Baas told the Rheinische Post.
He was disappointed with the Federal Council’s decision. “The savings package is already too small to stabilize contributions at the turn of the year. The fact that this minimum savings is now in danger is a fatal signal for millions of contributors and the German economy,” said Baas. Even if a compromise is found at the Mediation Committee, it may be too late to be factored into the contribution calculations for 2026.
The insured is now threatened with much higher taxes. “In fact, the average additional contribution will likely exceed the three percent mark in 2026,” said Baas. So far, it is assumed an additional contribution of 2.9 percent in 2026.
These additional contributions will only increase sharply in early 2025 and put greater pressure on employees. An expert commission set up in September is expected to submit a proposal to stabilize contributions from 2027 in March. The proposed fundamental reforms must be implemented by the end of 2026.
