AfD on health and care

The AfD rejects any further lockdowns and wants society to learn to live with the coronavirus. Unvaccinated people should not be put at a disadvantage. The platform bases this on the effects of the restrictions on livelihoods, students and young people.

The AfD wants no new lockdown. In a lockdown, the state closes many places and limits contact. People should learn to live with the virus. Unvaccinated people should not be treated worse.

The platform points to almost two years of strict limits on public and private life in Saarland. It says many people lost their livelihoods and students no longer receive basic education. Young people are said to be losing important years of their lives. Despite the measures, the virus has not disappeared, the platform says.

The AfD wants to prevent a COVID-19 vaccine mandate and considers it disproportionate. Vaccination should remain voluntary, like the flu shot. In the platform's view, the available vaccines do not protect well enough and COVID-19 is not a serious danger for most people.

The AfD is against a vaccine mandate for COVID-19. Everyone should decide for themselves about the shot. The party says the vaccines do not protect well enough. It fears people would have to get shots again and again.

The platform calls COVID-19 a serious illness, but says it poses no particular danger for most people, especially healthy children and teenagers. According to the AfD, mRNA and vector vaccines do not protect enough, and vaccinated people also pass on the virus. Inactivated and protein-based vaccines are not yet available, it says. In the platform's view, a mandate would lead to permanently repeated vaccinations.

The AfD demands that the government permanently ensure enough intensive care beds and staff. Medicines and protective equipment should also be secured for everyone affected. The platform criticizes that capacity was cut during the pandemic.

The AfD wants hospitals to be better prepared. There should be enough beds for very sick people. There should also be enough staff. Medicine and protective gear should be there for everyone.

According to the platform, one third of intensive care beds in Saarland were cut during the pandemic. It says politicians failed to make the health system crisis-proof. The AfD sees this as especially serious because limits on freedom were justified with capacity shortages. The provision should apply regardless of the current crisis.

The AfD wants the state's investment funding for hospitals to match actual need and wants to stop closures and bed cuts. The number of medical school places is to rise sharply, and medical care in rural areas and maternity care are to be supported.

The AfD wants more state money for hospitals. No more hospitals or maternity wards should close. More young people should be able to study medicine. Rural areas should also have enough doctors.

According to the platform, the state currently covers only half of hospitals' investment costs. The public sector is to remain responsible for hospital infrastructure; a mix of operators is possible, but profit-oriented corporations should not dominate health care. The AfD calls for practices and polyclinics with salaried doctors, including municipally run ones, less paperwork and an end to caps on doctors' fees. It sees telemedicine only as a supplement to face-to-face consultation. Enough beds are to be kept in reserve for epidemics. In maternity care, it wants to support midwife-led delivery rooms and ease midwives' insurance premiums.

The AfD wants to preserve small local pharmacies and avoid drug shortages. Discount contracts and the reimport quota are to be dropped, and incentives are to encourage drug production in Germany or the EU.

The AfD wants to keep small local pharmacies. Medicines should always be available. More medicines should come from Germany or the EU. The AfD wants to end discount contracts. These are price deals between health insurers and drug makers.

The platform sees a local pharmacy and doctor as a locational advantage for structurally weak regions. The state office that monitors the production of active ingredients and medicines is to get enough staff. With production incentives, the AfD wants to reduce dependence on global supply chains. It rejects the reimport quota because, in its view, frequent switching between products makes steady and safe use of medicines harder.

The AfD calls for a sector-wide collective agreement for all care workers that secures appropriate pay. It also wants family-friendly working hours, funded retraining and more advertising for care professions. This is meant to counter the staff shortage in care.

The AfD wants one pay agreement for all care workers. Such an agreement sets pay for a whole sector. Care workers should be paid well this way. Working hours should also fit better with family life.

The agreement is to cover night, holiday and weekend shifts as well. The employment agency is to specifically support and pay for retraining care assistants as certified care professionals. Care professions are to be promoted continuously, with brochures in hospitals, doctors' offices, libraries and town halls and with short spots on radio and television. The platform points to the aging population.

The AfD wants to raise the care allowance for relatives who provide care at home to the level of the in-kind benefits paid for professional care services, and to add a yearly state subsidy. It also wants to lower nursing home costs and ease the workload of care staff. The platform argues that relatives provide most care and receive too little recognition for it.

Many people care for family members at home. The AfD wants to give them more money. The state should also pay an extra amount once a year. Nursing homes should cost less too.

The care allowance for home care would be raised to match the amounts that professional care services receive as in-kind benefits. On top of that, the state of Saarland would pay a yearly subsidy equal to one month of the care allowance of the person in need of care. Hospitals would set up short-term care places so that patients without a nursing home place are looked after and clinics are not burdened further. The share of investment costs included in nursing home rates would be cut in half so that care does not become a poverty risk. For care staff, the AfD calls for less bureaucracy, modern technology, and a mix of skilled nurses, assistants and assistive systems.