Overview

• Thomas Lemke suggested restricting or requiring co-payments for procedures such as hip and knee replacements for people around 80 and older in a podcast appearance.
• Eugen Brysch of the German Patient Protection Foundation called the idea discriminatory, urged Lemke to consider resigning, and emphasized that medically necessary treatments are guaranteed by law.
• CDU/CSU health spokesperson Simone Borchardt said age must never determine access to needed care, while ethicist Nikolaus Knoepffler warned a rigid cutoff would fuel social discord and argued for case-by-case decisions.
• The KBV, Techniker Krankenkasse and social groups including VdK rejected age-based cuts and pointed instead to alternatives such as better patient steering, concentrating hospital services, and tackling drug and hospital cost drivers.
• No policy change is underway, and some critics question financial motives given Sana’s ownership by private insurers, warning older privately insured patients could face extra charges if such ideas advanced.