What do the parties say on health and care?

The AfD wants to prevent further contribution increases in health and long-term care insurance. The federal government is to pay in full for the coverage of Bürgergeld (citizen's income) recipients. In addition, the two insurance branches are to be merged and administrative costs cut.

The AfD wants to stop health and care insurance from getting more expensive. The state should pay the full insurance for people on Bürgergeld from taxes. Bürgergeld is basic income support. Health and care insurance should become one insurance. The administration should cost less.

The AfD wants to completely abolish per-case flat rates in hospitals and return to individually negotiated budgets. Budget caps on doctors' offices would end; the platform says these caps cause appointment shortages and long waits.

Hospitals today get a fixed sum for each case. The AfD wants to end these flat rates. Each hospital should negotiate its own budget. Doctors in offices should be paid for all treatments. The AfD says patients will then get appointments faster.

The AfD wants to pay considerably more for care provided by relatives at home so that more families can afford it. For professional nursing it calls for uniform nationwide staffing rules set by law. It rejects nursing chambers.

Many people care for relatives at home. The AfD wants to give them much more money for this. A law should say how many nurses hospitals need. It should be the same all over Germany. The AfD does not want nursing chambers.

The AfD wants a review of the COVID measures at every level, starting with a committee of inquiry in the Bundestag. In the platform's view, the measures harmed many people's health, social lives and finances.

The AfD wants to review the COVID rules. The Bundestag should set up a committee of inquiry. That is a group of lawmakers that investigates events. The AfD says the rules harmed many people. Those responsible should answer for it.

The AfD demands a fundamental reform of how the World Health Organization is funded in order to end the influence of private donors. If that fails, Germany should withdraw. It rejects the pandemic treaty and the amended International Health Regulations.

The WHO is the World Health Organization. The AfD wants member countries to pay for most of it. Private donors should have no influence. If that does not work, Germany should leave. The AfD is also against the pandemic treaty.

The AfD wants to immediately roll back the legalization of cannabis outside medical use. It points to physical and mental harm, especially to the still-developing brains of young people.

Since 2024, cannabis has been partly legal for adults. The AfD wants to change that back. Cannabis should only be allowed as medicine. The AfD says cannabis harms health, especially for young people. It also wants more help for people with addiction.

The AfD rejects every vaccine mandate and wants to scrap the measles vaccination requirement for children and teaching staff. It cites the right to self-determination and the constitutional right to physical integrity. People with vaccine injuries would get better care.

The AfD is against any duty to get vaccinated. Each person should decide about vaccines for themselves. The measles vaccine rule for children and teachers should end. People without vaccines should not be treated worse. People with vaccine injuries should get more help.

The AfD rejects a central database that stores confidential patient data and links hospitals, practices and pharmacies. Instead, an emergency data set would be kept on the health insurance card. The platform argues that this data needs a very high level of protection.

The AfD does not want one big database for patient data. It says this data needs strong protection. Key data for emergencies should be on the insurance card. This includes a list of medicines.

Medical staff from abroad would have to fully meet German standards in both skills and language, with language at level C1. The AfD also wants more university places in medicine and dentistry, with German citizens given priority.

Doctors and nurses from abroad should speak very good German. Their skills should match German standards. The AfD wants more places to study medicine. German applicants should get these places first.

The BSW wants a single citizens' health insurance into which everyone pays according to income and which gives everyone essentially the same benefits. Health insurers' additional contributions are to be dropped, ending what the party sees as two-tier medicine.

The BSW wants one health insurance for everyone. Everyone pays according to their income. Everyone gets the same care. The extra charges from health insurers should go away.

The BSW rejects hospital closures and the current hospital reform. It wants to end the separation between outpatient, inpatient and nursing care, strengthen municipalities and push back privatization.

The BSW does not want hospitals to close. It rejects the current hospital reform. Doctors' offices, hospitals and nursing care should work together better. There should be more doctors and nurses.

The BSW wants statutory health insurance to fully cover necessary dentures and vision aids again. According to the platform, healthy teeth should not depend on income.

Health insurance should pay fully for needed dentures. It should also pay fully for glasses. Today many people pay for these themselves. The BSW wants to change that.

The BSW calls for full long-term care insurance paid mostly from taxes. This is meant to sharply reduce the out-of-pocket costs of nursing home residents.

The BSW wants care insurance that covers all costs. The state should pay for it mainly from taxes. People in nursing homes should pay much less themselves. Care should not make anyone poor.

The BSW wants to raise the Pflegegeld (care allowance) for people caring for relatives substantially. It should be aligned with the pay of professional caregivers, because the platform regards caring for relatives as work.

Many people care for family members at home. They get a care allowance for this. The BSW says this money is far too low. It should be as high as the pay of professional caregivers.

The BSW calls for a Bundestag committee of inquiry into the COVID period and an amnesty law that ends pending proceedings and refunds fines. Vaccine injuries should be easier to have recognized and compensated. The party argues that the state, in its view, arbitrarily restricted basic freedoms.

The BSW wants COVID policy to be reviewed. A committee in parliament should do this. People who paid fines for breaking COVID rules should get their money back. People harmed by vaccines should get help and compensation more easily.

The BSW wants to remove the powers of intervention added to the Infection Protection Act during the COVID period. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) should be reformed and made independent, and civil servants should be able to report problems without suffering for it.

The Infection Protection Act says what the state may do during epidemics. The BSW wants to remove strict COVID rules from that law. The Robert Koch Institute should be independent of politics. Civil servants should be able to point out mistakes without harm to their careers.

The BSW demands that Germany not agree to a pandemic treaty that gives the World Health Organization additional powers. It also wants the WHO's conduct during the COVID period to be examined.

The WHO is the health agency of the United Nations. A new treaty would give it more rights during pandemics. The BSW wants Germany to say no to this. The party also wants a review of what the WHO did during COVID.

The CDU and the CSU want good care in cities and rural areas to be the guiding idea of the hospital reform and want to correct what they see as the reform's flaws. Uncontrolled hospital closures are to be prevented.

The CDU and the CSU want to change the hospital reform. Rural areas should also have enough hospitals. Hospitals should not close without a plan. The states keep planning their hospitals themselves.

The CDU and the CSU want general practitioners and pediatricians to guide patients through the system more strongly, so that treatment is better coordinated and waiting times fall. Statutory health insurance is to be put on a sound footing through more efficiency and more competition among insurers.

The family doctor or children's doctor should guide patients through the system. This should help patients get appointments faster. Health insurers should spend money more carefully. They should compete more with each other.

The CDU and the CSU want to strengthen local pharmacies with a reform and make the pharmaceutical and health industry a leading sector. Shortages of medicines and medical devices are to be reduced.

The CDU and the CSU want to keep local pharmacies. They plan a reform for this. Drug companies should have it easier in Germany. Medicines should no longer run short.

The CDU and the CSU want to fund long-term care through statutory insurance, employer contributions, tax money and private provision. The statutory long-term care insurance is to be stabilized quickly and thoroughly updated so that needing care does not lead to poverty.

Long-term care costs a lot of money. The money should come from several sources. These are care insurance, employers, taxes and people's own savings. Needing care should not make anyone poor.

The CDU and the CSU want to tackle staff shortages in care with better working conditions and recruitment abroad. Family caregivers are to be supported through a flexible care budget and an easier balance between caregiving and work.

There are not enough care workers. So the work should get better, for example with fixed schedules. Care workers from other countries should also come. People who care for family at home should get more help.

The CDU and the CSU reject active euthanasia and want to pass a comprehensive suicide prevention law. Hospice and palliative care are to be expanded to allow people to die with dignity.

The CDU and the CSU are against active euthanasia. That means nobody may kill another person at that person's request. There should be a law that helps prevent suicides. Dying people should get more good care.

The FDP wants family doctors and pediatricians to be patients' first point of contact. Hospitals are to specialize more, emergency care is to be better coordinated, and Germany is to be strengthened as a location for pharmaceuticals.

The FDP wants patients to see their family doctor first. For children it is the pediatrician. Hospitals should focus on certain treatments. Important medicines should be made in Germany and Europe again.

The FDP wants to keep statutory and private health insurance side by side and rejects a single citizens' insurance. Spending by the statutory funds is not to grow faster than their revenue.

The FDP wants to keep public and private health insurance. It rejects one single insurance for everyone. Public insurers should not spend more than they take in. Some benefits should be dropped.

The FDP wants to launch a prevention strategy and let insurers reward people who take preventive care with a lower supplementary contribution. Waiting times for psychotherapy are to fall below four weeks, and the party stands by cannabis legalization.

The FDP wants people to do more to stay healthy. People who do so should be able to pay less to their health insurer. Nobody should wait more than four weeks for psychotherapy. Cannabis should stay legal.

The FDP wants people to be able to use assisted dying with legal certainty while significantly expanding suicide prevention. Organ donation numbers are to rise without touching each person's free decision.

The FDP wants people to decide about their own death. Help with dying should have clear legal rules. People with thoughts of suicide should get more help. There should be more organ donations.

The FDP wants to free care providers from red tape, recruit more skilled workers at home and abroad, and ease the burden on family caregivers. Long-term care insurance is to remain a partial-coverage pay-as-you-go system but gain a capital-funded element.

The FDP wants less paperwork in care. More care workers should come, also from abroad. Care insurance should invest part of its money. This should keep contributions stable.

The Free Voters want to overhaul the structure of social insurance and add new provision components. Private health insurers, employers' liability insurance associations, and civil servants' health subsidies (Beihilfe) would in future share the standby costs of medical facilities.

The Free Voters want to rebuild social insurance. There should be new ways to save for care. Hospitals have costs even when no patient is there. Private health insurers should help pay these costs. Today only public insurers and the state pay them.

The Free Voters want to reform statutory long-term care insurance so that the share paid by people in need of care is graduated by social criteria and capped. Nursing home residents should not have to rely on welfare because of rising costs.

People in nursing homes pay part of the cost themselves. This part is rising fast. Some residents then need welfare. The Free Voters want an upper limit on this part. People with little money should pay less.

The Free Voters want to secure nationwide medical care in cities and rural areas, including emergency care, ambulance services, and hospitals. Telemedicine, closer cooperation between outpatient and inpatient care, and pilot projects are meant to help.

Doctors, hospitals, and ambulances should be easy to reach everywhere. That includes the countryside. The Free Voters want to expand emergency care. They want more treatment by video and phone. Doctors' offices and hospitals should work together better.

The Free Voters want to reduce documentation requirements in health care so that more time is left for patients. In the future, only deviations from the standard case would have to be recorded with a reason.

Doctors and nurses have to write down a lot. That time is missing for patients. The Free Voters want fewer rules about writing things down. Only exceptions should be noted. Computer programs with artificial intelligence should help.

The Free Voters want to stop the further spread of investor-operated medical care centers (iMVZ). They call for statutory regulation and want to strengthen the independence of doctors' decisions.

Some doctors' offices belong to investors who want profit. These offices often form chains. The Free Voters see this as a danger for care. They want a law with rules for such offices. Doctors should decide independently.

The Free Voters want a fundamental reform of the system of Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and want fees paid according to actual services without caps. Independent health professions are to be strengthened through updated fee schedules, support for opening practices, and less red tape.

The Free Voters want to support doctors with their own offices. Doctors should be paid for all services, with no upper limit. People who open or take over an office should get help. This matters most in areas with few doctors. Older doctors should get bonuses if they work longer.

The Free Voters want to strengthen nationwide coverage by local pharmacies and raise the fixed pharmacy fee. They want to ban mail-order sales of prescription drugs because, in their view, foreign mail-order sellers distort competition.

The Free Voters want to support pharmacies close to home. Pharmacies should get more money per medicine. People should no longer order prescription drugs by mail. The party says foreign mail-order pharmacies face fewer checks.

The Free Voters want to sharply reduce dependence on drug manufacturers outside Europe. In their view, Germany should again be able to supply itself with medicines.

Many medicines come from China and India. The Free Voters want to change that. Germany should make its own medicines again. The country should depend less on others.

The Free Voters want to make nursing more attractive through more autonomy, graduated qualification levels, and matching pay. In the short term, trained assistants would take on more tasks and other occupational groups would be recognized as qualified nurses.

Germany lacks many nurses. The Free Voters want to make the job more attractive. Nurses should be allowed to decide more on their own. People from similar jobs should also be able to work as qualified nurses. Hands-on training should get better.

The Free Voters want to give family caregivers more support: low-bureaucracy help, financial compensation, and credit for caregiving time toward their pension. Counseling and caregiving courses should be comprehensive and free.

Many people care for relatives at home. The Free Voters want to help them more. They should get money for this care. Caregiving time should count toward their pension. Caregiving courses should be free.

The Free Voters want to preserve hospitals and emergency care close to where people live. To that end, the hospital reform is to be substantially revised and hospital funding secured. The federal government is to share in keeping municipal hospitals open.

The Free Voters want to keep hospitals close to people's homes. Emergency care should be easy to reach. The hospital reform should be changed a lot. The federal government should help towns and cities pay for their hospitals.

The Free Voters regard vaccinations as an important preventive tool and want to strengthen counseling by family doctors. They reject compulsory vaccination because, in their view, it would damage trust in the health care system.

The Free Voters think vaccines are important. Family doctors should give even better advice about vaccines. The party is against forcing people to get vaccinated. It says forcing people would hurt their trust.

The Free Voters want to guarantee care around pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period everywhere. They call for funding for maternity wards, support for birth centers and more university places for midwives. Couples seeking fertility treatment and pediatric practices are also to get more support.

The Free Voters want good care around birth. There should be maternity wards and midwives everywhere. Hospitals should get money for this. There should be more places to study midwifery. Couples who want a child should get money and advice.

The Free Voters want all citizens to be required to state whether or not they are willing to donate organs. The declaration is to be made at a uniform occasion and stored in a central register. This is meant to increase donations and relieve relatives.

Many people are waiting for a donor organ. The Free Voters want a mandatory declaration. This means everyone must say whether they want to donate organs or not. This could happen when applying for an ID card. A doctor should give good information first.

The Free Voters want seriously ill and dying people to be cared for with dignity. To that end, palliative medicine is to be strengthened, mobile teams supported and volunteer hospice workers given better financial support.

The Free Voters want good care for dying people. Palliative medicine should be strengthened. This is medicine that eases suffering when a cure is no longer possible. Mobile teams should get more support. Hospice volunteers should get more money.

The Free Voters regard addiction as an illness and want to expand prevention and support services. For alcohol, tobacco and medications they call for warning labels and a sales license for stores. In addition, people should be able to have drugs anonymously tested for their contents.

The Free Voters say addiction is an illness. Addicted people need help and are not criminals. There should be more education and more counseling. Stores should need a license to sell alcohol and tobacco. A license is a permit from the government.

The Free Voters want to expand prevention, education and counseling on mental illness, especially for children and young people and in the workplace. Crisis services for mental health emergencies are to be available everywhere. No one should have to feel ashamed to seek help.

More and more people have mental illnesses. The Free Voters want more counseling and help. There should be crisis services everywhere. Companies should do more for their workers' mental health. No one should feel ashamed to get help.

The Greens want to improve conditions for healthy eating because, as they describe it, diet-related diseases are especially common among socially disadvantaged people. Plans include protecting children from ads for unhealthy food, less sugar in soft drinks, and duties for retailers to pass food on.

The Greens want everyone to be able to eat well. Children should see fewer ads for unhealthy food. Soft drinks should have less sugar. Stores should not throw away good food but pass it on.

The Greens want to organize outpatient care better and strengthen family doctors as the first point of contact. Local services such as municipal care centers, health kiosks, and health regions are to be expanded. The goal is for patients to find the right treatment faster.

The Greens want to strengthen family doctors. They should be the first place sick people go. Towns and villages should get more health centers. These centers also offer advice. People should get appointments faster.

The Greens want to carry out the hospital reform already under way together with the states and adjust it where needed. Good basic and emergency care should be within reach everywhere, and specialized centers should deliver high quality. A reform of emergency care and ambulance services is to follow quickly.

The Greens want to continue the hospital reform. They will work with the states on this. Everyone should get fast help in an emergency. Ambulance services should also get better.

The Greens want key active ingredients for medicines to be made in Germany or Europe more often again. The platform cites unstable supply chains as the reason. Pharmacy funding is also to be reformed.

Important medicines often come from far away. Sometimes they run out. The Greens want more production in Germany and Europe. Pharmacies should also be paid in a new way.

The Greens want therapists, nurses, and paramedics to be allowed to treat patients more independently. A dedicated law on health professions is to secure quality and cover additional occupations.

Nurses and therapists should be allowed to decide more on their own. This also applies to paramedics. The Greens want a new law for this. It sets rules for health jobs.

The Greens want to promote maternity care nationwide and improve conditions for midwives. At the same time, every woman is to have access to abortion, which the platform sees as part of good medical care.

The Greens want good help with childbirth everywhere. Midwives should have better working conditions and fair pay. Every woman should be able to end a pregnancy if she wants. She should decide for herself.

The Greens support an opt-out system for organ donation. Under it, anyone who has not objected counts as a donor. The platform justifies this by saying many people on the waiting list die because organs are lacking.

Many sick people are waiting for an organ. Some die because there is none. The Greens want a new rule. If you do not say no, you count as a donor. Parliament should vote freely on this.

The Greens want to compensate people who cut their working hours to care for relatives for their lost income for a limited time. Care is also to stay affordable so that people needing care do not routinely depend on social assistance.

Many people care for family members. They work less and earn less. The Greens want to pay them money for some time. Their pension contributions should also be paid. Care should be affordable for everyone.

The Greens want to win back care workers who left the profession by offering better working conditions. These include more staff, more responsibility, and better career paths. According to the platform, hundreds of thousands would be willing to return.

Many care workers have left their jobs. The work was too much. The Greens want to bring them back. There should be more staff and better conditions. Care workers should have less paperwork.

The Greens want tasks that in their view do not belong to health and long-term care insurance to be funded more from tax revenue. This is meant to ease the contribution burden on insured people and employers.

Health and care insurance funds pay for some things that are not their job. The Greens want the state to pay more of this. The money would come from taxes. Contributions should then rise less.

The Greens want to orient health and long-term care more toward the common good and promote public and nonprofit providers. Financial investors are to have less influence. The platform sees profit orientation as a risk to the quality and safety of care.

Some companies want to earn a lot of money with clinics and care homes. The Greens see this as a danger to care. They want to limit the influence of such companies. People should know who owns a facility.

The Greens are aiming for a Bürgerversicherung (citizens' insurance) that also brings privately insured people into the solidarity-based funding system. In long-term care, a financial balance between statutory and private insurance is to be the first step. According to the platform, those with more should contribute more.

Today there is public and private health insurance. The Greens want one citizens' insurance. Then everyone pays into a shared system. People with a lot of money pay more. Income from investments should count too.

The Greens want to make prevention a task for every policy area. Makers of tobacco and alcohol are to pay more toward the resulting health costs, and advertising for these products is to be regulated more strictly.

The Greens want fewer people to get sick. Tobacco and alcohol harm health. The makers should pay more for the damage. There should be less advertising for them. Cigarette packs should no longer have logos.

The Greens want to create more therapy slots and crisis services so that people in mental health crises do not have to wait for months. A suicide prevention law is to be added. Children and teenagers are a particular focus.

Many people with mental health problems wait a long time for help. The Greens want more therapy places. There should be more help in a crisis. A new law should help prevent suicides. Children and teenagers should find help quickly.

The Greens want a health preparedness law (Gesundheitssicherstellungsgesetz) to make the health system better equipped for pandemics, disasters and military threats. They also want to expand heat protection, since the platform sees the climate crisis as creating new health risks.

The Greens want a new law for emergencies. Hospitals and doctors should be better prepared. This covers disease outbreaks, disasters and war. People should also be better protected from extreme heat.

The Greens still aim to allow cannabis sales in licensed specialty shops and are pushing for this at the European and international level. Drug policy should rely on help rather than prosecuting users, while police and customs are strengthened against organized trafficking.

The Greens want cannabis to be sold in special shops. These shops would need a license. This should shrink the illegal market. People with addictions should get more help. Police should focus on big dealers.

The Left wants a single health and long-term care insurance into which everyone pays contributions on all income. Privately insured people would move into the public system, and care insurance would cover all care services. According to the platform, health should not depend on a person's wallet or insurer.

The Left wants one health insurance for everyone. People with private insurance would pay in too. Contributions would be due on all income. Care insurance would pay all costs of care. Most people would pay lower contributions.

The Left wants a law setting how many staff health professions need and calls for at least 100,000 additional nurses in hospitals. Outsourcing used to cut wages would end. The platform sees cost pressure and staff shortages as causes of overload and poorer care.

The Left wants more nurses in hospitals. A law would set how many staff are needed. Former nurses should be won back. Everyone in one hospital should be paid under the same contract.

The Left wants to scrap flat-rate payments per case and have health insurers fully cover hospitals' necessary operating costs. Profits and losses would then hardly be possible. The party rejects the previous coalition's hospital reform because, in its view, it endangers small hospitals and keeps competition in place.

Hospitals today get fixed amounts per treatment. The Left wants to end that. Insurers would pay the necessary costs in full. Hospitals would no longer make profits. Private hospitals that are given up would go to the public.

The Left wants to promote municipal health centers that combine outpatient, inpatient, nursing and therapy services in one place. Psychotherapy services would be greatly expanded. The platform points to hard-to-reach practices, long waits and a lack of doctors in many regions.

The Left wants health centers run by towns and cities. Doctors, care and therapy would be in one place. There would be more places for psychotherapy. Investors should no longer profit from medical practices.

The Left wants to push back the influence of pharmaceutical companies, place drug research under public control and set prices uniformly across the EU. Research on neglected diseases such as ME/CFS and long COVID would get more funding. The platform points to fast-rising drug spending by health insurers.

Medicines are often very expensive. The Left wants the EU to set the same prices everywhere. The state should oversee research on medicines. There should be more money for research on long COVID.

The Left wants a system change in long-term care: corporations are to be pushed out of residential care and private homes transferred to public ownership. It also calls for 100,000 additional care workers in nursing homes and equal pay in elder care and hospital nursing.

The Left wants to change the care system. Private nursing homes should belong to the state or to towns. Big companies should no longer make money with nursing homes. 100,000 more care workers should work in the homes. Elder care should pay as well as hospital nursing.

The Left wants to introduce full-coverage long-term care insurance that pays all care costs, so that out-of-pocket contributions disappear in the long run. Costs for room and board in nursing homes are to be capped.

Today people in nursing homes pay a lot themselves. The Left wants to change that. A new care insurance should pay all costs of care. Room and food in the home should not get too expensive either.

The Left wants to ease the burden on people caring for relatives: six weeks of paid leave, cash benefits and pension credits. It also wants to expand day care and short-term care and to regulate so-called 24-hour care provided by foreign workers.

Many people care for family members themselves. The Left wants to help them more. When a family member first needs care, workers should get six weeks off. The employer keeps paying their wages. Caregivers should also get money and a higher pension.

The Left wants to stop punishing drug use and rely on prevention, counseling and support instead. Cannabis would be fully legalized. According to the platform, bans reduce neither trafficking nor use and themselves cause many problems.

The Left no longer wants to punish people for taking drugs. They should get help and advice instead. Cannabis should be fully legal. Ads for alcohol, tobacco and gambling should be banned.

The ÖDP wants to reorganize health care funding and create a single health insurance plan for everyone. The platform treats health care as an essential public service in which profit-seeking should have no place.

The ÖDP wants one health insurance for all people. Private add-on insurance stays possible. Nobody should make a profit from health care. Hospitals should no longer close. Nurses should get more pay.

The ÖDP rejects mandatory vaccination in Germany. It calls vaccination an act of solidarity and wants to reach a high vaccination rate through public information so that shots can remain voluntary.

The ÖDP does not want mandatory vaccination in Germany. But it says getting vaccinated is important and shows solidarity. People should be well informed. Then vaccination can stay voluntary.

The ÖDP wants enough hospice places and palliative care services everywhere in Germany. The federal government would co-fund this and make it binding by law. According to the program, the terminally ill and dying are entitled to solidarity from the state and society.

The ÖDP wants more help for dying people. There should be enough hospice places everywhere. A hospice is a home for people who are dying. The government should help pay for it. People who want to should be able to die at home.

The PdF wants to make care work more attractive and secure the supply of care. Its plans include a permanent tax-free bonus, statutory minimum staffing levels, state-funded care facilities, and higher subsidies for home care services.

The PdF wants more people to work in care. Care workers should get a lasting bonus without tax. A law should set the lowest number of staff. The state should pay for its own care homes. Home care services should get more money.

The PdF wants to make nursing care more attractive through better working conditions, higher pay and more training places. In addition, a nationwide program would support volunteers who help care for seniors.

There are not enough trained workers in elder care. The PdF wants to pay care workers better. Working hours should fit family life better. There should be more training places. Volunteers should get support too.

The PdF wants to build a nationwide network of easily accessible mental health counseling centers for young people and make the topic a fixed part of everyday school life. The platform names excessive digital use, social media and bullying at school as sources of strain.

Many young people have mental health problems. The PdF wants counseling centers for them everywhere. Schools should get psychologists and programs against bullying. Young people should learn to use phones and the internet well.

The PdF supports the hospital reform so far and calls for further steps to ensure nationwide care. Hospitals would be paid for keeping services available and would specialize, and emergency care would be reorganized.

The PdF wants to continue the hospital reform. Hospitals should get money for their basic costs. They should specialize in certain treatments. Hospitals should have emergency centers. Paramedics should be allowed to do more.

The PdF wants to remove fee budget caps for general practitioners so that every service is paid in full. Municipalities would also find it easier to set up medical centers, and a single fee schedule would apply to all doctors.

Today, family doctors are not paid in full for every treatment. The PdF wants to change that. Then family doctors should take on more patients. Towns should find it easier to open medical centers. One single fee schedule should apply to all doctors.

The PdF wants to make prevention a fixed part of the health system and create financial incentives for it. It points out that only about three percent of health spending goes to prevention.

The PdF wants to keep people from getting sick in the first place. There should be more preventive care. Health insurers and doctors should be rewarded for it. Companies should get tax benefits when they promote their workers' health.

On vaccination, the PdF relies on voluntary choice, scientific evidence and public information. It considers a legal vaccine mandate possible only in exceptional danger situations, and the state should give special protection to sensitive settings such as schools and care homes.

The PdF wants people to decide for themselves about vaccines. A vaccine mandate should only be possible in special danger situations. The state should give extra protection in schools, daycare and care homes. The party wants clear and simple information about vaccines.

The PdF wants to create 1,600 additional statutory insurance licenses for psychotherapists, mainly in rural and structurally weak regions. It also wants to end the sale of these licenses together with practices, because the party sees the costs as an obstacle to care for publicly insured patients.

Many people wait a long time for psychotherapy. The PdF wants 1,600 new licenses for therapists. Such a license allows a therapist to treat publicly insured patients. Today, therapists buy these licenses for a lot of money. The PdF wants to end this trade.

The PdF wants the federal subsidy to statutory health insurance to grow regularly and wants contributions for groups such as Bürgergeld recipients adjusted. The program points to rising spending and a record-high contribution rate as the background.

Public health insurance keeps getting more expensive. The PdF wants the federal government to pay in more money. This money should rise regularly. Contributions for people on Bürgergeld (citizen's income) should be adjusted. Money should not be spent on unneeded treatment.

The PdF wants people with statutory and private health insurance to be treated the same when booking appointments, especially with specialists. It also wants to support medical centers and polyclinics and cut red tape to secure care.

The PdF wants equal doctor's appointments for everyone. It should not matter if you have private or public insurance. The state should support new medical centers. Doctors should have less paperwork.

The PdF wants to create a central body that develops and implements uniform digital standards in health care. Telemedicine is to be expanded and the number of statutory health insurers reviewed.

The PdF wants health care to be more digital. One central office should set the rules for this. There should be more doctor visits over the internet. The PdF wants to check if Germany needs so many health insurers.

The PdF wants to tackle obesity with nutrition and exercise education in daycare centers and schools and with legal requirements for food served in communal facilities. A national framework plan is to set binding rules for healthy and sustainable meals.

The PdF wants people to eat healthier. Children should learn about food and exercise in daycare and school. There should be fixed rules for food in schools and cafeterias. Labels on food should be clearer.

The PdF wants to overhaul the Betäubungsmittelgesetz (Narcotics Act) so that substances are classified by their actual harm. Less dangerous substances could be supplied in a controlled way while especially harmful ones remain targeted; prevention and supervised consumption sites are to be expanded.

The PdF wants new rules for drugs. How dangerous a drug is should decide the rules. People should be able to get less dangerous drugs in a controlled way. Very dangerous drugs stay banned. There should be more help and information.

The SPD wants a levy on manufacturers of sugary drinks and binding targets for less sugar, salt and fat in food. Stricter rules are to apply to energy drinks, alcohol, disposable e-cigarettes and new nicotine products.

The SPD wants less sugar, salt and fat in food. Companies should pay a levy on sweet drinks. There should be stricter rules for alcohol and nicotine. This is meant to protect children and teenagers above all.

The SPD wants to bring statutory and private health insurance together into a single Bürgerversicherung (citizens' insurance) system in which everyone takes part. The aim is equal access to care for all and stable contributions.

Today there is public and private health insurance. The SPD wants one shared system for everyone. It is called citizens' insurance. Everyone should get the same treatment. People who earn more should pay more.

The SPD wants health funds and the associations of statutory health insurance physicians to guarantee doctor's appointments. People with statutory insurance should get an appointment as quickly as privately insured patients.

Many people wait a long time to see a doctor. The SPD wants an appointment guarantee. People with public insurance should be seen as fast as people with private insurance. If that fails, they should pay lower contributions.

The SPD wants further structural reforms to secure medical care, especially in structurally weak regions. Emergency care and ambulance services are to be strengthened and the barriers between practices and hospitals removed.

The SPD wants good doctors and hospitals everywhere. This matters most in areas with few services. Ambulance services should become stronger. Doctors' practices and hospitals should work together better.

The SPD wants to strengthen prevention and early detection and to expand the electronic patient record for that purpose. Mental health, care for disadvantaged groups and gender-sensitive medicine are also to receive more attention.

The SPD wants to stop illnesses early. The electronic patient record should help with that. People should get a therapy place faster. Medicine should pay more attention to differences between women and men.

The SPD wants to improve supply security for all medicines and bring more production to Germany and Europe. Local pharmacies are to be strengthened as points of contact.

Sometimes medicines are missing. The SPD wants to change that. More medicines should be made in Germany and Europe. Local pharmacies should be strengthened.

The SPD wants a thorough review of how the state handled the COVID-19 pandemic, including through a citizens' assembly. Lessons are to be drawn for future crises.

The SPD wants to look closely at the COVID years. A citizens' assembly should help. That is a group of randomly chosen people. The state should learn from this for new crises.

The SPD wants to cap residents' own share of nursing home care costs at 1,000 euros a month. Statutory and private long-term care insurance are to be merged into one jointly financed system so that needing care does not lead to poverty.

Care in a nursing home costs a lot of money. The SPD wants to set a limit. People should pay at most 1,000 euros a month for care themselves. There should also be just one care insurance for everyone.

The SPD wants to support family caregivers with family care leave and a family care allowance modeled on Elterngeld (parental allowance). Care at home is to be strengthened because people in need of care want to stay in familiar surroundings as long as possible.

Many people care for relatives at home. The SPD wants to give them more time for this. They should also get money, much like parents get parental allowance. There should be more advice and more day care for people who need care.

The SPD wants to tackle the shortage of skilled staff in health and care with better pay, working hours and wider powers. Needs-based staffing levels are to apply nationwide for all groups of employees.

There are too few skilled workers in care and hospitals. The SPD wants to make these jobs better. There should be good pay and enough staff. Training should be free. Skilled workers from abroad should join too.

The SPD wants to create the conditions for a cannabis legalization that complies with EU law. This is meant to improve health and youth protection and weaken organized crime.

The SPD wants to make cannabis legal. This should fit the rules of the EU. The SPD says this protects health and young people better. Criminal gangs should also earn less this way.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to pay care workers better and mandate fixed staffing ratios. The state would support training with scholarships. Relatives who care for sick people would receive a care allowance.

Care workers should earn more money. There should be fixed rules on how many staff must be there. The state should help pay for training. People who care for relatives should get money from the state.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to permit active euthanasia, following the example of the Netherlands. Doctors would be allowed to carry it out under fixed conditions.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to allow active euthanasia. This means a doctor may help a severely suffering person die. There would be strict rules. The Netherlands is the model.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to substantially increase the number of therapy places and shorten waiting times. According to the platform, long waits often make illnesses worse.

People with mental illness often wait a long time for therapy. The Tierschutzpartei wants more therapy places. Waiting times should get shorter. Crisis hotlines and online help should also get more money.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to allow far fewer chemical additives in food and keep industrial sugar out of baby food in particular. It cites allergies, especially in children, and also promotes a plant-based diet.

The Tierschutzpartei wants fewer chemical additives in food. Baby food should contain no industrial sugar. Labels should say clearly what is in the food. Cafeterias and hospitals should offer more plant-based meals.

The Tierschutzpartei opposes private hospitals, clinics and practices and wants to move healthcare into public ownership. In its view, health should not have to turn a profit. Care should also become more local, accessible and digital.

The Tierschutzpartei does not want private hospitals and practices. The state should run healthcare. Health should not be a business. Rural areas should have enough doctors too. People should be able to book appointments online easily.

In drug policy, the Tierschutzpartei puts education and prevention first and wants to provide addiction counseling, therapy and supervised consumption rooms. Tobacco, nicotine and alcohol are to be taxed more heavily to protect the public and the health system.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to educate people about drugs. Addicted people should get counseling and therapy. There should be consumption rooms. These are safe places where addicted people can take drugs. Tobacco and alcohol should cost more.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to improve elder care, have nursing homes inspected without notice and promote housing models such as multigenerational homes. The aim is for older people to stay active in society and avoid loneliness.

The Tierschutzpartei wants better care for old people. Inspectors should check nursing homes without warning. Old and young people should be able to live together. Old people should be allowed to bring their pets to a home.

Volt wants a single health insurance system that also covers civil servants and the self-employed. It would first be set up in Germany and become European in the long term. To fund it, the income ceiling for contributions would rise, and health and long-term care insurance would be merged.

Volt wants one health insurance for all people. Civil servants and self-employed people should be in it too. At first this should apply in Germany. Later there should be one insurance for all of Europe. People with high pay should pay more.

Volt wants to merge the statutory health insurers into four nationwide funds and organize them as nonprofit cooperatives. Insured people would have a say through cooperative shares instead of the current social insurance elections. The platform expects this to bring more transparency, efficiency and participation.

Today there are many health insurers. Volt wants only four for all of Germany. These insurers should be cooperatives. A cooperative belongs to its members. Insured people buy shares and then have a say.

Volt wants to unify how medical services are paid for and base payment on quality and need. Statutory insurers would no longer pay for services without scientific proof of effectiveness, such as homeopathy. According to the platform, the goal is to avoid overtreatment, undertreatment and inappropriate care.

Volt wants new rules for paying doctors and hospitals. Quality and need should count. Insurers should no longer pay for homeopathy. There is no proof that homeopathy works. No one should get too much or too little treatment.

Volt wants health care to be planned region by region according to local need. In rural areas, regional care centers staffed by several health professions are to be set up. Patients who see a specialist without a referral would pay a share of the cost themselves.

Volt wants to plan health care for each region separately. Rural areas should get new health centers. Different health workers work together there. People who see a specialist without a referral should pay a fee.

Volt wants to expand remote treatment and send mobile health units to remote areas. At the same time, uniform digital standards are meant to make it easier for everyone involved to exchange medical data.

Volt wants more treatment by video and phone. Mobile clinics should drive to remote places. Doctors' offices and hospitals should share data using the same rules.

Volt wants medicines to be produced in Europe again in order to prevent supply shortages. In addition, prices within Europe are to be aligned, advertising and discounts regulated, and pharmacies paid in a different way.

Volt wants medicines to be made in Europe again. This should stop medicines from running short. Prices should become more similar across Europe. Pharmacies should be paid in a new way.

Volt wants to give priority to the emergency care reform already under way and finish it quickly. The rescue service is to gain legal standing of its own, be digitally connected, and be supported by telemedicine. This is meant to secure care and address staff shortages.

Volt wants to improve help in emergencies. A law on this has already been started. Volt wants to finish it fast. The numbers 112 and 116117 should be linked digitally with hospitals.

Volt wants to make professions such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, and midwifery more attractive. This includes pay during training, uniform nationwide standards, secure funding for advanced training, and a say in the Federal Joint Committee.

Volt wants to strengthen health professions. These include physiotherapy and midwifery. Trainees should be paid. These professions should get a vote in an important committee.

Volt regards the climate crisis as the century's greatest health threat and wants to expand prevention. The plans include a heat strategy with the states, more funding for cooler city centers, and more resilient hospitals.

Volt says the climate crisis is a big danger to health. So there should be a plan against heat. Cities should become cooler, for example with more green spaces. Hospitals should be better prepared for crises.

Volt wants to expand everyday health promotion regardless of income. Plans include more money for grassroots sports, easier access to healthy food, a rating system for food, nutrition as a school subject, and health kiosks across the country.

Volt wants people to be able to live healthier lives. Sports clubs should get more federal money. Schools should teach about nutrition. There should be health kiosks everywhere. People can easily get advice there.

Volt wants to introduce a tax on sugar, sugar substitutes, and sweeteners. It is meant to push manufacturers to use less sugar, help prevent diseases such as diabetes, and relieve the health system.

Volt wants a new tax on sugar and sweeteners. Sweet drinks will then cost more. Companies should therefore put less sugar in their products. This is meant to prevent diseases like diabetes.

Volt wants to prevent mental illness early through prevention and make psychotherapy easier to access. To that end, more insurance-funded therapist licenses are to be created, and resilience is to be fostered from daycare age.

Volt wants to strengthen mental health. There should be more therapy places paid for by health insurance. Even small children in daycare should learn to cope with stress. Volt also wants to act against bullying and loneliness.

Volt wants to give more support to services that make drug use safer, including drug checking, supervised consumption rooms and substitution treatment. It also calls for education, less stigma, and addiction prevention that covers gambling and media use as well.

Volt wants to help people who use drugs. They should be able to use drugs more safely. One example is drug checking. Experts test what is in a drug. Volt also wants more education about addiction.

Volt wants to reduce the disadvantages that women and people of other gender identities face in health care. To do so, it would expand research, training for medical staff and low-cost screening. The platform points to research gaps, faulty diagnoses and poorer access to therapies.

Volt says medicine pays too little attention to women. So there should be more research on this. Doctors should get training. Women should get cancer screening at low cost.

Volt wants to decriminalize the possession and use of all psychoactive substances and do without sanctions. The partial legalization of cannabis would stay and be extended to sales in specialized shops. The party treats the use of such substances as part of bodily self-determination.

Volt no longer wants to punish people for having drugs. This should apply to all drugs. Cannabis should stay legal. People should be able to buy it in special shops. Education should protect health and young people.

Volt wants more physical activity at school, at work, and in leisure time, because the platform says it prevents lifestyle diseases. The plan includes daily exercise offerings in schools, free municipal sports programs for adults, and more uniform health insurer bonus programs.

Volt wants people to move more. That keeps them healthy. Schoolchildren should be able to exercise every day. Towns should offer free sports for adults. Health insurers should reward exercise more.