Published 3 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1533
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1533

News

German health insurance companies reluctantly agree to doctors’ pay rise

Annette Tuffs

1 Heidelberg

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Health insurance companies in Germany have been forced to agree a 10% pay rise for community based doctors, averting the threat of strike action.

The {euro}2.7bn (£2.2bn; $3.9bn) settlement is the minimum that the country’s 150 000 family doctors and community based specialists were prepared to accept without going on strike. The profession had originally demanded {euro}4.5bn. The Ministry of Health is yet to formally agree the deal but has signalled its consent.

Andreas Köhler, head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, which negotiated on the profession’s behalf, said that the pay rise was a first step towards nationwide guaranteed care of patients outside hospitals.

But the health insurance companies, which had been forced to settle after the intervention of an external mediator, said that they might now have to put up their membership fees by 15%.

"This massive pay rise will unfortunately be felt in everybody’s . . . [Full text of this article]


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Rapid Responses:

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