{
  "id": 15665412,
  "title": "Health reform: Statutory health insurance doctors predict longer appointment waiting times",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/19/gesundheitsreform-kassenarzte-sagen-langere-termin-wartezeiten-voraus",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-19T22:06:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/gesundheitsreform-kassenaerzte-sagen-laengere-termin-wartezeiten-voraus/100263379.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "Patients with statutory health insurance will have to wait longer for doctor's appointments from next year, according to Andreas Gassen, chairman of the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV). The German government has cut funding for outpatient care, resulting in over 50 million fewer appointments. The KBV has criticised a new \"terminmeldepflicht\" (appointment reporting obligation) which requires doctors to report a fixed number of available appointments, which they say will further exacerbate the shortage of appointments. The KBV argues that more funding for outpatient care is needed to increase the number of available appointments.",
  "summary": "In the future, doctors are to report a fixed number of free appointments, previously they could determine the scope themselves. Why the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians does not see this as a way to faster appointments.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}