/ alliance image, dts agency
Berlin – The Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) will have to settle for around €270 million less funding next year than this year. Around €16.4 billion is planned for 2025. This year it was around €16.7 billion.
This is what the federal government’s budget proposal, approved by the cabinet today, envisages. This means that the draft, which has long been controversial in the coalition, can now be forwarded to the Bundestag. The budget committee will then consider the government’s plans. A decision in parliament is expected at the end of November.
The lower budget allocation at BMG is essentially due to lower expenses due to the corona pandemic.
Around 150 million euros less will be spent on financing pandemic preparedness contracts in 2025 than this year. Another around 140.5 million euros will be lost because payments from the federal government to the health fund for the costs caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic will be completely cancelled.
As before, the federal subsidy for statutory health insurance (GKV) remains the largest expenditure block at 14.5 billion euros. One disadvantage: there is no longer any financial planning. Neither the rising costs of care nor the expected additional costs for statutory health insurance due to the numerous laws are taken into account.
Paula Piechotta, a member of the budget committee and rapporteur for the Greens’ health budget, stressed that “overall only minimal cuts have been made” to the health budget. But despite the elimination of pandemic costs, there are still obligations related to the coronavirus, such as pandemic preparedness contracts and vaccine contracts.
“The large-scale additional costs that will result from the ongoing legal proceedings regarding the procurement of masks under Jens Spahn are currently not shown,” Piechotta said. In his view, these costs could “potentially become the biggest burden on the health minister’s budget.”
“The original goal of harmonizing expenditure and income and thus putting the finances of the statutory health insurance (GKV) and social insurance (SPV) back in order seems to have been completely lost sight of,” complained Carola Reimann, President of the AOK Federal Association. Contribution stability and the responsible use of contribution money are no longer counted.
Reimann accused the federal cabinet of ignoring its financial responsibility and finally saying goodbye to the implementation of the coalition’s promises. At the same time, health insurance contributions for insured persons and employers in the health system would be distributed at full capacity.
“This laissez-faire approach leads to frustration among taxpayers and undermines confidence in the performance of the healthcare system. And it means a fundamental rejection of sustainable management in the healthcare system. This will drive the GKV and the SPV to the wall in the long term,” says Reimann.
Left-wing leader Janine Wissler also criticized. “The problem is that the budget does not do justice to the challenges of the future,” Wissler said. ZDF-Morning magazine. It is urgent to invest more money in housing, transport infrastructure, hospitals, schools and the fight against climate change. Humanitarian organizations have harshly criticized the federal government’s planned cuts in development policy.
In total, the federal government’s budget for 2025 amounts to 480.6 billion euros. That is around eight billion less than this year. The Finance Ministry reports 78 billion euros in investments – a record level. Federal Finance Minister Lindner is planning new loans worth 43.8 billion euros – also slightly less than this year.
According to the Basic Law, the federal government can borrow this money despite the debt brake. The SPD and the Greens toyed loudly with the idea of making an exception for higher borrowings, but the FDP prevailed.
However, more borrowing is likely to be done this year: the cabinet has also launched a supplementary budget with 11.3 billion euros in additional debt. This is also possible with a debt brake, because the economy is very weak.
The money is primarily intended to offset additional needs in promoting green electricity and citizens’ money and to compensate for the fact that fewer tax revenues are coming in. With the budget for 2025, the traffic light coalition wants to simultaneously stimulate the economy, maintain social benefits and do justice to the tense international security situation.
In addition, families are supported through higher child benefits and a higher child benefit for low-wage working parents. Overall, tax relief of around €23 billion is planned for 2025 and 2026, in particular through increased deductions for taxes on wages and income, as well as for social security expenses. overtime exempt from taxes and contributions.
Necessary tricks
The fact that there are no major savings also means that tricks are needed to achieve a balanced budget. Lindner wants to account for interest expenses differently in future budgetary terms. He also expects around six billion euros more in tax revenue to come from a package for higher economic growth, the key points of which were also decided by the cabinet.
And then there is the so-called global underspending of 17 billion euros. On the one hand, the federal government is betting that the ministries will not spend all the money that year anyway. The procedure is quite common, but the amount is very high.
The 17 billion euros also include 8 billion euros, which the federal government already has an idea for financing, but which could be on shaky ground under constitutional law. Among other things, the money that the KfW development bank did not use to reduce gas prices could be returned to the federal budget. Whether this would be watertight is still being tested.
Lindner also needs to clarify whether it would make economic sense to replace the subsidies to Deutsche Bahn and the Autobahn company with loans. These would not count towards the debt brake – but could have an impact if the companies wanted to raise money on the capital markets. If all three ideas cannot be implemented, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP may have to renegotiate again. © may/bee/dpa/afp/aerzteblatt.de