More competition, more transparency, more freedom of choice for a long-term, stable healthcare system
10.11.2010 10:56
Widmann-Mauz: "The healthcare system is changing - and everyone involved must face this change courageously: More competition, more transparency and more freedom of choice - our healthcare system needs all of this in order to remain permanently efficient and financially viable."
With these words, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, Annette Widmann-Mauz, MP, opened the federal conference of the German Social Law Association on November 3, 2010 in Nuremberg. The reform laws that are being discussed in parliament - the law to reorganize the pharmaceutical market and the law for the sustainable and balanced financing of statutory health insurance - demonstrate that the federal government keeps its word and ensures a fair and stable health system that also provides health care for future generations proven to ensure a high level of performance.
As the Parliamentary State Secretary emphasized, a more competitive healthcare system requires a fair regulatory framework so that undesirable developments and unfair competition do not occur. Therefore, in the future, antitrust law should also be applied accordingly in addition to public procurement law. Particularly in the area of discount contracts, it has been shown that health insurance companies can have considerable market power in relation to service providers. The order for the ban on cartels in statutory health insurance, which is anchored in law as part of the law to reorganize the pharmaceutical market, now ensures fair conditions on all sides in the interests of insured persons and patients.
“Contracts that health insurance companies or their associations are legally obliged to conclude are excluded from this. This takes into account the reality of care in the GKV. Such mandatory contractual obligations can be found, for example, in the supply of medicinal products and medical aids. For example, in some areas of the provision of medical aids, certain contracts are generally concluded at association level and therefore as a collective agreement. Decisions, recommendations and guidelines from the health insurance companies or the Federal Joint Committee, which make them mandatory, are also excluded,” explained Annette Widmann-Mauz.
She also commented on the planned changes with regard to the legal process. “The crucial question here is which review bodies will help to enforce both competition law and the interest of the statutory health insurance companies in providing economical care to the insured.” The now planned changes to Section 69 SGB V as well as those also within the framework of the law on the reorganization of the pharmaceutical market The changes to the Act Against Restraints of Competition and the Social Courts Act would ensure that the authorities concerned (Federal Insurance Office, antitrust authorities) and the courts (social and higher regional courts) are responsible for their respective areas of responsibility. It is envisaged that the authority to intervene in the event of violations of antitrust law applies to the antitrust authorities, in particular the Federal Cartel Office. In the future, the civil courts will again be responsible for all competition law disputes, and the social courts will continue to be responsible for social law disputes.
“I know the criticism of the decisions that have now been made on the question of legal recourse. However, it is not clear to me why a coexistence of responsibilities, which is proven practice in other regulated markets with supply mandates, should lead to insurmountable obstacles in the healthcare sector. The path now chosen ensures that the unity of the legal system is maintained, because competition law is always dealt with in the civil courts. This also prevents the creation of duplicate structures,” said the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health.
November 10, 2010