Protest across Bavaria: on Monday two hours later, numerous doctors’ offices will open, including many pediatricians.
To protest the planned cuts in services, several doctors’ offices will open in Bavaria two hours later: 10:00 instead of 8:00. The Association of Medical Examiners of Health Insurance and the Bavarian Medical and Psychotherapeutic Professional Associations have invited their members to take this step. According to the Professional Association of Pediatricians, many pediatricians will also temporarily close their practices.
Many doctors in Bavaria see outpatient care at risk. “The claims of health insurance companies for zero fees ensure that practices can hardly be managed economically with runaway inflation,” said the board of the Bavarian Association of Medical Examiners of Health Insurance (KVB) in Munich. . There has also been criticism of Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s (SPD) plans to remove the new patient regulation from the law.
Bavarian doctors protest against Lauterbach’s plans
“Under these conditions, young doctors can no longer be encouraged to work in their own practice,” it reads. “For patients, the current course of the federal government means that they need to be prepared for longer waiting times for doctor visits and that their usual full outpatient care is in jeopardy.”
The background is, among other things, the plans of the Federal Ministry of Health to eliminate the so-called new regulation for patients. Since 2019, it has been offering doctors special financial incentives so that they can hire new patients in their practice and offer additional appointments at short notice. A deletion of the regulation would mean financial losses for doctors’ practices.
