Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - In protest against planned austerity measures, numerous family and specialist practices in Hesse are to remain closed next Wednesday. The reason for the nationwide protest action is the current course of the federal government and the health insurance companies, said the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians of Hesse (KVH) on Friday. "The concern is to signal to politicians and health insurance companies that things can't go on like this. Too much is going against outpatient care," said Karl Matthias Roth, press spokesman for KV Hessen.
The KVH referred to the planned cancellation of the new patient regulation, which had previously created financial incentives for resident doctors to take on new patients. The deletion would lead to a loss of profits of around 400 million euros for doctors throughout Germany. The KVH also criticized the health insurance companies, who no longer wanted to grant the practices the statutory inflation compensation for the next two years.
There is no information about how many practices will actually take part in the protest, the spokesman said. The KVH advises patients to inform themselves before visiting a doctor. In the event of an acute illness, other emergency facilities are available.
