Fewer Appointments, Longer Waits: What Merz's Healthcare Cuts Will Mean for Berlin

On 10 July, Germany passed a new healthcare austerity package, and Berlin's doctors aren't happy. The GPs and specialists who treat patients on public health insurance are not holding back about what it means in practice. In an open letter, the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung (KV) Berlin warned that "the consequences of this law will be noticeable in your everyday life."

"Ultimately, it won't be the practices alone who pay the price, but the patients with fewer appointments and longer journeys. Older people and the chronically ill who depend on local care will feel it first."

According to Tagesspiegel, the cuts will mean longer waiting times for appointments, further distances to the nearest GP or specialist, fewer preventive check-ups and vaccinations, and services that are currently standard becoming available only to those who can pay out of pocket. According to the KV's own estimate, the law will strip around €130 million a year from outpatient healthcare in Berlin alone.

Brandenburg's KV CEO Catrin Steiniger put it plainly: "Ultimately, it won't be the practices alone who pay the price, but the patients with fewer appointments and longer journeys. Older people and the chronically ill who depend on local care will feel it first."

The package is designed to prevent rising contributions to statutory health insurance in 2027 by imposing spending limits on practices, clinics, pharmacies, and the pharmaceutical industry. It also includes higher co-payments for medication and restrictions on the free co-insurance of spouses. Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) has defended the cuts as necessary, arguing that nobody – neither the insured nor employers – wants contributions to keep rising.

It is worth remembering that this is the same government that just put forward a law to make it harder to call in sick without a doctor's note, and is now making it harder to get a doctor's appointment.