German health law injunction declined
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
An attempt to gain a temporary injunction against German health minister Ulla Schmidt's sickness fund contribution stability law, aimed at saving the statutory health insurance funds some E2.75bn ($3bn), has been thrown out by the federal constitutional court (BVG). The BVG ruled last week that claims by dentists, pharmacists and pharmaceutical wholesalers on December 23 2002 that the law would endanger their existence, by forcing them to offer discounted pharmaceuticals to the health insurance funds and freezing doctors' budgets, were unjustified.