Germany: Merz hails 'historic' health care reform
Key takeaways
- The Cabinet has greenlit a health care draft law designed to lower insurance rates.
- The package, designed to stop spiraling health insurance premiums, must still pass through the German Bundestag, where it is expected to come under some intense scrutiny from parliamentarians.
- Merz is also struggling with historically bad approval ratings, with one recent poll suggesting he is the most unpopular democratically elected leader anywhere in the world.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The Cabinet has greenlit a health care draft law designed to lower insurance rates. The bill heads to parliament next, but doctors' associations and patient protection advocates say it amounts to austerity measures.
https://p.dw.com/p/5D1FIFriedrich Merz said the health care reform plan was the most ambitious in decades Image: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance Advertisement Chancellor Friedrich Merz, under pressure to deliver reforms to Germany's costly health care system, has announced that what he called a "historic" health care draft law had been agreed by his Cabinet on Wednesday morning.
The package, designed to stop spiraling health insurance premiums, must still pass through the German Bundestag, where it is expected to come under some intense scrutiny from parliamentarians.