German government forces through sickness fund reform policies
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Despite the best efforts of German health minister Ulla Schmidt, the government's attempts to reform the health service by the introduction of three new laws found little cross party consensus in the German Lower House last week, but were still forced through by the red-green coalition. In her opening address, Ms Schmidt called on the opposition to work with the Social Democratic and Green Parties in establishing a health service for the benefit of all. "For the last time, stop trying to block our attempts to maintain contribution stability and offer optimal treatment procedures to patients," she said.