Baden-Württemberg: Southwest municipalities are skeptical about health kiosks

Who should pay for this? In general, the southwest municipalities think health kiosks are a good idea.

Baden-Württemberg: Southwest municipalities are skeptical about health kiosks

Who should pay for this? In general, the southwest municipalities think health kiosks are a good idea. But they don't want to be left with the costs of the proposal by Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach.

Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) does not inspire enthusiasm in the southwestern communities with his proposal to build 1000 health kiosks nationwide. Although low-threshold offers make sense, they must also be feasible," said Benjamin Lachat, the head of the department responsible for the city council, on Thursday of the German Press Agency. The district council also waved it off. The Ministry of Health, on the other hand, can warm to the proposal.

According to Lauterbach's legislative initiative, the main task of the kiosks is to improve access to care for people with special support needs. This applies to people with and without health insurance, to people without a family doctor or to patients with language barriers.

Municipalities are to assume 20 percent of the costs, statutory health insurance 74.5 percent and private health insurance companies 5.5 percent. A plan that private health insurance in particular rejects. The statutory funds do not like the distribution of costs either: the AOK federal association demands that the municipalities bear 50 percent of the costs. City day expert Lachat also sees limits to funding: "We would have difficulties if the federal government once again described new tasks that the municipalities did not have the scope for and the resources to implement, which are necessary for success." Talks with the federal and state governments will not be refused.

The district council spoke of a suggestion at the wrong time. "At the moment, the federal government should concentrate fully on stabilizing the health system, which is under pressure, and in particular on helping the clinics, which are massively burdened by insufficient funding," said the association's general manager, Alexis von Komorowski, in Stuttgart. Although the proposal contains technically interesting approaches, it raises numerous questions - for example about possible double structures and really fair financing.

The Ministry of Health, on the other hand, welcomed the approach of improving medical care with new concepts, especially in socially disadvantaged areas. "The health kiosks fit very well with our concept of the primary care centers that are currently being set up in Baden-Württemberg," explained a spokesman. These centers are easily accessible to all people with health concerns and problems. These contact points and the proposed health kiosks were not mutually exclusive.