Overview
- CSU health politician Hans Theiss proposes raising cigarette prices by about €2 per pack to finance cutting VAT on medicines from 19% to 7%, which he estimates could free up as much as €7 billion a year for the system.
- Hendrik Streeck cites annual tolls of roughly 131,000 deaths, over €30 billion in direct health costs and nearly €70 billion in wider economic costs, arguing higher prices curb smoking and reduce disease.
- DAK-Gesundheit backs pairing a VAT cut on medicines with higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol, while medical leaders from the KBV and Bundesärztekammer and the GKV umbrella call for channeling revenue into healthcare and prevention.
- Support also comes from SPD’s Karl Lauterbach and Green health spokesman Janosch Dahmen, whereas BSW’s Sahra Wagenknecht rejects making smokers pay and FDP leader Christian Dürr urges structural reforms instead of tax hikes.
- No law has been passed beyond the existing post-2026 increase path, and Health Minister Nina Warken expects a double‑digit billion‑euro GKV gap in 2027 as her commission readies stabilization proposals for March.