Progress and deadlock in German health reforms
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The German coalition government has made progress in one area of the health reforms while talks have broken down in another. The government pushed through its emergency cost-cutting proposals in the Bundestag (lower house) late last month. It is expected that the bill will be passed in September. The government claims that the proposed cost-cutting measures will result in savings of some DM 7,000 million ($4,700 million), which will enable it to cut the average healthcare insurance contribution rate by 0.4%.