Two weeks after it was adopted by the Bundestag, on February 2, 2007, the bill on the health reform was ratified, on February 16, by the Bundesrat, the chamber representing the Länder. This vote ends more than one year of controversies (see our story 06989, 06685, and 06681) and removes the last parliamentary obstacle. The reform will come into effect, as expected, on April 1, 2007. (Ref. 070149)
Defending the elaborated compromise, Ulla Schmidt (SPD) federal Secretary of Health, judged that the reform was going to make the health system “more secure” and “more competitive”.Without this reform, its costs would have “boomed”, assured Edmund Stoiber, the conservative minister-president (CSU) from Bavaria, reminding that the question of the financing of the state aid given to the health insurance was not settled. By 2016, this aid should gradually go from 2.5 billion euros this year to 14
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