That's called a scapegoat: Because Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) can only close the deficit in statutory health insurance (GKV) with difficulty, he thrashes his predecessor Jens Spahn (CDU).

This has introduced too many overpriced benefit laws and failed to eliminate the structural underfunding.

This was not noticed during the Corona period, since the tax subsidy doubled and the federal government also bore a lot of other pandemic expenses.

But now Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is keeping the money together and rightly expects Lauterbach to balance the system.

Among other things, he wants to increase the contributions and bleed the pharmaceutical industry.

This puts a strain on the insured, employers, drug research and thus the business location.

Citizen Insurance Friend

On the other hand, the plan to reduce the reserves of the health fund and the individual health insurance companies is absolutely correct.

Exactly for this purpose, statutory minimum reserves were laid down, which must not be undershot.

However, the idea of ​​​​dissolving the financial cushion created by contributions before increasing the contributions does not come from Lauterbach, but from the much scolded Spahn.

It is a mistake that Lauterbach continues to reject the urgently needed cuts in benefits.

How that fits in with the accusation against Spahn of having scavenged in exactly this field can only be understood by a friend of citizen insurance like Lauterbach, who does not believe in the current model anyway.

Lauterbach's other GKV plans are a breach of a dam and a taboo in more ways than one.

The increase in the GKV additional contribution means that the "social guarantee" of a maximum burden of 40 percent in all social insurances is finally wasted.

The fact that the other pots also contribute is small consolation for the ever-increasing burden on labor in difficult economic times.

Also new is that the health insurance companies are allowed to incur debts, for the first time they are receiving a federal loan of one billion euros.

That is better than the funds donated in the new federal subsidy of 16.5 billion euros.

But the loan only seemingly relieves the health care system, the taxpayer and the contributor, since it has to be serviced and eventually repaid.

Lindner and Lauterbach have been working on the GKV finances for a long time.

The former insisted on the debt brake, the waiver of new taxes and his no to a supplementary budget.

The latter did not want to save on the services.

The result is a rotten compromise that is everything but a resilient and future-proof reform.

This will be postponed again – as happened under Jens Spahn.