The statutory health insurance companies reject the doctors’ demands for more money. The CEO of the umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies, Doris Pfeiffer, told the editorial network Germany with a view to the ongoing protest actions by various medical associations that the gross net income of practicing doctors has increased on a nationwide average in recent years.
“It must also be made clear: What doctors or pharmacists want to get more, the supermarket cashier and the truck driver have to finance with their health insurance contributions,” said Pfeiffer. They also suffered from the increased prices.
Closed practices
Pfeiffer also opposed further financial aid for the clinics. “It cannot be the case that those paying contributions are pumping additional money into a hospital system in which 30 to 40 percent of the beds are permanently empty,” she said. It makes no sense to support clinics now that no one will ultimately need to provide good patient care. “The principle of funding with a watering can must come to an end. There is also enough money in the system.”
Medical associations have called for family doctor and specialist practices to be closed nationwide between the years. The action, planned until Friday, is part of the “Praxis in Not” campaign, which is supported by more than 20 associations. The Virchow Association of resident doctors was unable to provide any information on Wednesday about the number of practices involved because the strike was organized decentrally. However, a spokeswoman explained that tens of thousands of practices are expected to be closed nationwide. The practices were asked to inform their patients about the closure, refer them to the medical on-call service and provide representation in emergencies.
No understanding of Lauterbach
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach shows no understanding for the demands of practicing doctors. “I don’t think the demand for more money is justified,” he said on the ZDF program “heute journal update”. “Apart from Switzerland, of course, nowhere in Europe do practices earn as well as they do in Germany. I don’t see any scope for fee increases.” He doesn’t understand why there is a strike. There is a “huge wave of illness” in the population. “The doctors’ demands for more money are also known. The strike doesn’t bring anything forward at all.”
Lauterbach wants to meet with the family doctors at a crisis summit in January to discuss the complained about overload and bureaucracy in the practices. “The practices need better working conditions, need less bureaucracy. The money also needs to be distributed more fairly,” he said on ZDF. “But simply pouring more money into a system like in the past – which doesn’t really work well – we’ve simply used this solution too often. It won’t be in the foreground.”
