Statutory health insurance physicians predict longer waiting times for appointments from 2027

Statutory health insurance physicians warn of longer waiting times for appointments. Status: October 20, 2026 • 7:41 p.m

From 2027, a fixed contingent of appointments will be set in doctor's practices. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians fears that waiting times for appointments will be even longer - the health insurance companies see this as scaremongering.

Statutory health insurance doctors in Germany expect that from next year people with statutory health insurance will have to wait significantly longer for a doctor's appointment than before. The chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, referred to the reduction in funding for outpatient care in Bild. As a result, “more than 50 million appointments” were canceled. The shortage of appointments will therefore continue to worsen, said Gassen.

The federal government's savings program for statutory health insurance (GKV) provides for extensive cost-cutting measures. According to the KBV, the outpatient sector is particularly badly affected. The planned cuts in this area amount to around 2.7 billion euros for the coming year alone. A large part of the savings should be achieved by capping expenses.

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The KBV had already criticized this extended “appointment reporting requirement” as part of the recently decided reform of emergency care. Previously, contracted doctors were obliged to report available appointments to the appointment service center. You could therefore determine the scope yourself. In the future there will be fixed quotas for appointments that you have to report.

This will not mean that patients can get appointments more quickly, said Gassen. “On the contrary: if a fixed contingent of appointments to be reported is set and these are blocked in the practices, they will no longer be available to the patients in these practices,” said the head of the statutory health insurance physicians. The KBV has repeatedly pointed this out, emphasized Gassen. More money is needed for outpatient care - this is the only way more appointments can be created.

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The Association of Substitute Insurance Funds (vdek) criticized that with his statements the KBV boss was "deliberately stirring up fears among millions of legally insured people". The KBV is “painting a specter of service cuts and endless queues on the wall” and is “carrying out a political discussion on the backs of the patients,” explained vdek chairwoman Ulrike Elsner.

The claim that millions of appointments will be canceled in the future is particularly absurd. The fact that in the future practices will also have to report available appointments to the appointment service points (116117) “does not take any capacity out of the system, but rather ensures reliable placement based on medical urgency,” said Elsner. “Not a single appointment will be canceled just because an extra surcharge is no longer paid for something that is a matter of course.”

The umbrella association of statutory health insurance (GKV) also responded that some were trying to “enforce fee demands on the backs of patients”. Spokesman Florian Lanz said: "Nobody canceled any doctor's appointments; rather, the fee bonus for making appointments faster was withdrawn because there were no faster doctor's appointments."

Criticism also came from the board of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch: "The statutory health insurance lobby wants to torpedo outpatient care for the almost 75 million people with statutory health insurance through a pseudo-shortage." Those with statutory health insurance are already being fleeced the most by the government's plans, said Brysch, with a view to increasing medication co-payments, falling fixed subsidies for dentures and limited non-contributory co-insurance for spouses.

This topic in the program: BR24 Radio | News | Oct 20, 2026 | 3:37 p.m