Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to reform hospitals in Germany. But the resistance to it is great. The ministry is now announcing delays.
The planned hospital reform is set to be one of the biggest reforms the German healthcare system has ever experienced. Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) speaks of a “revolution”. However, this revolution is met with great criticism in many federal states – and is increasingly stumbling.
The latest setback for the big project: The Federal Ministry of Health has promised new proposals for reform by the end of April. But nothing will come of it, as a spokesman for the ministry told t-online when asked. “We are working hard on it. The new proposals will be available shortly,” it said. Exactly when remains unclear.
This has met with sharp criticism from the opposition. “Minister Lauterbach keeps getting bogged down in the hospital reform,” said Tino Sorge, spokesman for health policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, on t-online. “It’s taking revenge that he sought dialogue with the federal states and the clinics far too late.” The traffic light schedule is currently more than questionable. “The reform threatens to fail.”
Left: Hospitals on the brink of ruin
The left sees it in a similar way – and warns of fatal consequences. “Lauterbach’s hospital reform threatens to burst,” said Ates Gürpinar, spokesman for hospital policy for the left in the Bundestag, t-online. The plans of the Minister of Health are obviously useless to reach an agreement with the federal states. “Meanwhile, the federal government looks on idly as the hospitals accumulate billions in deficits due to the energy crisis and inflation and are thus pushed to the brink of ruin.”
Gürpinar demands: “We urgently need a short-term moratorium that defuses the economic situation of the hospitals and prevents clinic closures.” However, the impression is increasingly being created that the impending death of hospitals is being consciously accepted in order to “prepare” the planned reform, while the reform process is stuck.
Opinion: Previous proposals unconstitutional
Just last week, a legal opinion commissioned by the Union-led health ministries of Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein classified the existing proposals for hospital reform as unconstitutional. “The Basic Law does not provide for federal legislative competence either for the hospital system in general or for hospital planning in particular,” says the 144-page legal opinion.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach called it right to also analyze the legal aspects. However, the report deals with outdated reform plans and is not confirmed by other experts. “The discussion is now much further,” said the SPD politician. The urgently needed reform will be worked out together with the federal states. “The usual expert dispute must not and will not prolong hospital deaths,” he promised.
