BSW on health and care

The BSW wants to push at the federal level for far fewer health insurance funds and to keep contribution rates from rising in the coming years. In the program's view there is enough money in the system, and two-tier medicine should be overcome.

Germany has almost 100 public health insurers. They offer almost the same things. This costs a lot of money for paperwork. The BSW wants far fewer insurers. Contributions should not go up.

The program criticizes long waits for specialist appointments for publicly insured patients and doctors favoring private patients because of fee schedules. In the BSW's view profit-seeking has no place in medicine, and the state should fully meet its duty of care. Nearly 100 public insurers offering almost identical benefits cause high administrative costs. Contribution rates should stay stable in the coming years, and financial disincentives in health care should be removed.

The BSW wants to bundle outpatient specialist care in easily reachable centers, similar to the former East German polyclinics. At the same time, the hospital reform should be implemented in a way that preserves basic care, especially in rural areas.

Specialist doctors should work together in one center. That is how the old polyclinics worked. The centers should be easy to reach. Hospitals in the countryside should still offer good basic care.

In the program's view, bundled care brings benefits for staff and patients. According to the program, Thuringia has the most hospital beds per resident in Germany, yet many clinics face financial and staffing problems. The BSW supports a sensible implementation of the hospital reform, which it calls necessary. Good basic medical care should be preserved, particularly in rural areas.

Doctors trained in Jena or at private universities should commit through funding programs to work in Thuringia for five to ten years. The BSW also wants to strengthen telemedicine, prevention and health education.

Thuringia needs more doctors. People who study medicine in Jena should then work in Thuringia. This should last five to ten years. Funding programs help with this. Video doctor visits and prevention should also grow.

The program calls this rule a "Landarztquote" (rural doctor quota). The commitment would last five to ten years and be tied to funding programs. The aim is to train medical staff and keep them in the state. Health promotion and prevention should especially reach socially disadvantaged groups, which according to the program face higher health risks and lower life expectancy.

The BSW wants a cap on nursing home costs: residents' own share should not exceed the average pension. In the program's view, sharply rising co-payments have turned nursing homes into a poverty trap.

A place in a nursing home is very expensive. Many people become poor because of it. The BSW wants a limit on the costs. Residents should pay no more than an average pension. The state and federal government should cover the rest.

According to the program, a nursing home resident pays an average of 2,778 euros a month; costs rose 24 percent from 2021 to 2022 and another 14 percent in 2023. Long-term care insurance is described as only partial coverage. The state and federal governments should restructure funding. In addition, there should be mandatory municipal care planning paid for by the state, plus statewide counseling and local services for people needing care and their families. To fight loneliness in old age, the BSW backs intergenerational offerings such as municipal barrier-free housing projects.