Andreas Gassen, head of the Kassenärztlicher Bundesverband, advocates for closing more hospitals and expanding ambulatory care in Germany. He criticizes health insurers' cost-cutting plans and demands higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol, plus a sugar tax. The revenues should be earmarked for the health system.
Andreas Gassen, chairman of the Kassenärztlicher Bundesverband (KBV), has called for closing more hospitals in an interview with the Rheinische Post. "We need a concentration of sites and real ambulatization," he emphasized. Hospitals are the biggest cost driver in the health system. At least one in five hospital cases – insurers estimate 60 percent – could be handled on an outpatient basis, more cheaply and patient-friendly.
Gassen sharply criticizes the statutory health insurers' savings plans. The association of health funds intends to cut additional fees for faster appointments from independent doctors and cap budgets for general practitioners and pediatricians again. "This way, the funds are driving the system and the care of people in our country against the wall," Gassen warned. Independent doctors provide 97 percent of care but receive only 16 percent of expenditures: "They are supposed to take on more tasks constantly and receive less money."
Next week, Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) will present her savings package to relieve the funds through the Bundesrat. Gassen sees savings potential in homeopathy, which should be removed as an insurance benefit. "There is no evidence that homeopathy works," he said; the funds pay 50 million euros annually for it. He also criticized spending on health apps, such as for quitting smoking or alleviating depression, as their benefits are not evaluated.
Instead, Gassen demands higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco, as well as a sugar tax like in Scandinavian countries. The revenues must not disappear into the federal budget but flow earmarked into health care.
