Overview
- Parliamentary consideration of the Krankenhausanpassungsgesetz and 47 coalition amendments was delayed when the items were removed from the Health Committee docket, pushing off a plenary vote this week.
- Health Minister Nina Warken’s draft would give states more time and grant broader exceptions for smaller clinics, a shift critics say weakens quality and specialization standards and heightens patient risk in complex care such as oncology.
- Greens and major insurers warned of diluted safeguards and higher costs, with Techniker Krankenkasse’s chief cautioning that the concessions could lock in outdated structures and lead to unnecessarily high contributions.
- SPD negotiators said they were prepared to accept the compromise package, while Union-led Länder signaled more internal talks were needed and state officials raised the prospect of a mediation committee if no deal emerges.
- KBV chief Andreas Gassen’s call to scrap all voluntary statutory-insurance benefits for about €1 billion in savings drew swift rejection from the GKV and from CDU/CSU and SPD leaders, and separate CDU economic-council ideas to shift dental costs to patients were publicly ruled out by Warken.