Overview
- Matthias Miersch, who leads the SPD group in parliament, said Friday that patients should gain a legal right to a specialist appointment within about three weeks.
- He proposed a bonus–malus pay system for doctors that would cut budgets for practices that do not offer appointments and route that money to clinics that provide outpatient slots.
- Miersch said it is unfair that privately insured people get faster access than those with statutory insurance, echoing a long-running complaint from public patients.
- Government data show statutory patients who had to wait at least a day faced an average 42-day wait in 2024, and a Techniker Krankenkasse survey found only 8% got a slot within days while 35% waited months.
- An expert commission appointed by Health Minister Nina Warken plans to present health-care savings proposals next week, a step that could shape how any appointment guarantee is enforced and funded, including possible shifts of money from practices to clinics.