Overview
- In a WELT TV interview, CDU health politician Hendrik Streeck questioned prescribing very expensive therapies to centenarians and urged binding guidance within medical self-governance.
- He pointed to his father's final weeks with lung cancer as an example of high-cost treatments that brought no benefit.
- Leaders from the Greens, FDP and SPD denounced the notion as unlawful or unethical, with critiques ranging from “Unfug” to “cold cynicism” and a rejection of age-based rationing.
- Patient advocates insisted that cost and age must not be exclusion criteria, while the Bundesärztekammer welcomed debate but said decisions must follow patient will, prognosis and quality of life.
- The controversy unfolds as health spending is estimated at about €538 billion in 2024, and no changes to the G-BA’s coverage rules have been announced.