German coalition politicians push to end private-patient priority for specialist visits
Ahead of a planned overhaul of medical care, CSU and SPD politicians say specialist appointments should be allocated by medical urgency rather than by whether patients have statutory or private insurance.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Pressure is building within Germany's governing coalition to allocate specialist appointments solely on medical need. "Medical urgency must be decisive – not whether someone has statutory or private insurance," SPD health politician Christos Pantazis told Bild. Klaus Holetschek, who leads the CSU group in the Bavarian state parliament, spoke of an "imbalance." The umbrella association of statutory health insurers called need-based allocation overdue.
Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU) is expected to present a draft for a primary-care system in November, with family doctors as the first point of contact and shorter waits for specialists. The coalition plans an appointment guarantee as part of a primary-care system. Studies put average waits for statutory patients at 36 to 41 days.
The private health insurers' association rejected the criticism. The Left Party wants private health insurance abolished, and the social welfare group SoVD called the situation a "scandal." The national association of statutory health insurance physicians warned that a fixed duty to report free slots could worsen conditions in practices.