Berlin: (hib/VOM) Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) should be able to spend 16.71 billion euros this year. The Budget Committee decided this in its adjustment meeting when it adopted Section 15 of the 2024 Budget Act (20/7800, 20/7802) in an amended version. The government draft envisaged spending 16.22 billion euros; in 2023 the Ministry of Health still had 24.48 billion euros available. As in previous years, the “flat-rate reimbursement of health insurance costs for tasks for society as a whole”, the transfer to the health fund, amounts to 14.5 billion euros.
In the current year, the minister can expect income of 104.32 million euros as planned in the draft (target for 2023: 104.17 million euros). The commitment authorizations amount to 330.48 million euros (government draft: 165.08 million euros; target for 2023: 1.1 billion euros). The budget committee increased the global shortfall that the ministry has to generate from 13 million euros to 23.57 million euros.
Newly included in the budget was 346.23 million euros for subsidies for the central procurement of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. In addition, the budget holders changed several expenditure items in the government bill. They increased the federal government’s payments to the health fund from 10.5 million euros to 140.5 million euros for burdens caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
The financing of pandemic preparedness contracts was reduced from 544.77 million euros to 486.12 million euros. On the other hand, the strengthening of international public health was increased from 50 million euros to 60.25 million euros. In order to cover the costs of international cooperation in the healthcare sector, the government’s budget was increased from 5.03 million euros to 6.28 million euros.
There is also more money for projects and measures to test applications with large amounts of data in the healthcare sector. The committee increased the funds for this by 4.65 million euros to 32.79 million euros. Instead of 4.63 million euros in the draft, 14.56 million euros will now be made available for orders and services in the area of information technology.
There should also be more money for health education for the population. The budget holders increased the government budget from 17.53 to 22.38 million euros. Education about sexually transmitted diseases may cost 13.08 million euros instead of just 9.9 million euros as planned in the draft. 19.21 million euros are available for education about drug and addictive substance use, compared to 15.21 million euros that the government had earmarked.
The committee increased expenditure on research, investigations and the like from 29.38 million euros to 38.77 million euros. Among other things, the aim is to research the professional handling of wishes for assisted suicide, especially with regard to nursing professionals. In addition, the project draft “care hotel and rehabilitative-oriented short-term care” is intended to be supported. Seven million euros were newly included in the budget for model measures to care for children and young people suffering from Long Covid.
The hib report on the individual plan in the government draft: