German GPs (general practitioners) propose health finance overhaul
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Non-vital procedures should be removed from the statutory health insurance reimbursement catalogue if the German health system is to continue to offer quality care to everybody, says the federal association of statutory health insurance physicians (KBV). "By this we mean maternity pay and death benefit, which cost the sickness funds billions each year," KBV chairman Dr Manfred Richter-Reichhelm told KBV representatives last week in Rostock. In a move aimed at pressurising the eventual winner of the general election in September, he added that the sickness funds must work together with the KBV to prune the existing catalogue.