/image alliance, Daniel Kalker
Berlin – The traffic light coalition is once again in trouble over its federal budget for next year. The most recently reached agreement is once again on the brink. The Federal Finance Ministry said that two scientific assessments showed that “further discussions are necessary within the federal government and within the framework of parliamentary deliberations.”
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) commissioned the audit because there were doubts as to whether individual projects in the federal budget were constitutionally and economically viable. These projects are supposed to halve the 17 billion euro funding gap that still exists after the traffic light negotiations between the leaders. Otherwise, Lindner had warned, there would be a risk of blockages in budget implementation.
The traffic light expected to make up a good $9 billion simply because, at the end of a year, ministries had never used all the funds they were entitled to. This is common, as billions of dollars have been left over regularly in recent years. But filling a $17 billion hole seems unrealistic. That’s how Lindner managed it. Handelsblatt has already announced that it will not allow the approval of a budget with such a hole.
The reports have now revealed doubts about the planned plans to close the financial gap. From the Finance Ministry’s point of view, the austerity measures must now be renegotiated. “Measures to strengthen the precision of social spending, on which no political agreement has yet been reached, could also reduce the need for action,” ministerial circles said.
How and if the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), like other departments, will have to make an additional contribution to savings, is an open question. BMG’s previous plans had been humane in terms of austerity measures.
According to the plans, the ministry will have to make do with around €270 million less funding next year than this year. So far, around €16.4 billion has been planned for 2025. This year it was around €16.7 billion.
The lower allocation of funds is essentially due to lower follow-up expenses due to the 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 additional costs of statutory health insurance that are expected due to the numerous laws are taken into account.
O The health insurance situation is getting worse Meanwhile, funding for nursing care remains in short supply, not to mention the increasing personal contributions to care. At the same time, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) Benefit cuts excluded. © may/dpa/aerzteblatt.de