Statutory health insurance under pressure
These practices want to shorten appointments for GKV patients
May 8, 2026 – 7:37 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
The health insurance reform also provides for savings for doctors. These now threaten with unpleasant consequences for all statutory health insurance patients.
82 percent of ear, nose and throat doctors are planning to shorten their consultation hours for statutory health insurance patients in view of the statutory health insurance savings plans. Almost as many want to expand private consultation hours in return. More than half also want to lay off staff.
This is the result of a current flash survey by the German Professional Association of ENT Doctors (BVHNO). BVHNO President Jan Löhler warned that there is a risk of longer waiting times for statutory health insurance patients due to the limited consultation hours.
The surcharges play an important or very important role for almost all (97 percent) of the doctors surveyed: the additional money was invested in longer consultation hours, new staff or new equipment.
“The TSVG has improved the care of ENT patients and stabilized basic specialist care,” explains Hohler. As a result of the GKV savings measures, there is now a risk of a drop in fees of more than 44,000 euros per doctor. This forces doctors to limit their services for statutory health insurance patients. How strong varies from practice to practice:
According to the Commission’s estimates, by eliminating the extra payments, health insurance companies will be able to save around 1.3 billion euros in the coming year.
