Overview

• The Bundesrechnungshof reports that the annual shortfall between contributions and expenditures is growing by €6–8 billion and could reach €47 billion in 2025.
• It attributes the mounting deficits to the abolition of cost-containment rules, demographic aging, and rising hospital and medical costs.
• The report calls for immediate expenditure cuts across all service areas to stabilize funds before resorting to further borrowing.
• The audit office cautions against diluting key elements of the hospital reform and demands a unified stabilization concept.
• The GKV-Spitzenverband demands an expenditure moratorium and calls for structural reforms, warning that federal loans alone will not close the financing gap.