Pressure to save money due to a budget gap?
Lauterbach’s health kiosks probably won’t come
April 14, 2024, 2:22 p.m
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Medical care is particularly poor, especially in structurally weak regions. Health Minister Lauterbach wants to remedy the situation with so-called health kiosks. According to a report, they are not coming. Apparently the costs are too high given the budget situation.
According to a media report, the so-called health kiosks planned by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach in medically underserved rural areas and structurally weak districts in large cities will not come after all. As the ARD capital studio reported, Lauterbach’s ministry has completely eliminated the health kiosks in a draft of the Health Care Strengthening Act. It can be assumed that the austerity pressure imposed by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner motivated Lauterbach to do so.
Lauterbach had also defended the kiosks against criticism from social associations by pointing out that in one to two decades there would be a massive undersupply, especially of general practitioners and psychotherapists. The health kiosks should offer a first, low-threshold point of contact for patients and be managed by nursing professionals.
There should be advice centers for treatment and prevention – on the initiative of the municipalities and led by a nurse. They should be set up both in existing rooms and on buses. The estimated annual cost per kiosk: 400,000 euros. 74.5 percent of this should be borne by statutory health insurance companies, 5.5 percent by private health insurance and 20 percent by the respective municipality. In 2025 there should be 30 kiosks nationwide, and then around 220 by 2028.
Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, parliamentary director of the FDP, described the health kiosks on ARD as an “inefficient double structure with questionable benefits for care.” The FDP health politician told the “Report from Berlin” that instead it was about “improving care, especially in rural areas, and basic care with doctors.”