“Politicians must take responsibility”

02.02.2010 16:12

BDI President calls for open debate about prioritization

The Professional Association of German Internists, BDI eV, supports the current appeal by Federal Medical Association President Prof. Jörg D. Hoppe in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung to Federal Health Minister Dr. Philipp Rösler (FDP) to conduct an open debate about which patients and diseases will be treated with what priority in the future. Patients feel more and more every day that there is not enough money available for optimal therapy.

BDI President Dr. Wolfgang Wesiack, together with the BÄK President, is calling on politicians to finally take responsibility and not to burden the doctors with this. Prioritization is urgently needed to avoid covert rationing. Politicians are certainly capable of prioritization, as the swine flu vaccination plan has shown, regardless of the question of whether the vaccination was necessary or not.

The politically desired selective contracts also indicate that the provision of care to the population needs to be improved in special cases. It is clear to everyone that there cannot be unlimited benefits for a limited amount of money. Politicians, but also the health insurance companies, are apparently relying on doctors to tacitly finance the necessary innovations from their own fees. The ambiguity in the arguments of the Federal Ministry of Health, the health insurance companies and the Federal Joint Committee must finally stop, demands Wesiack.