“We aren’t getting the quality we pay for”Professor Iris Kesternich calls for bold structural reforms at the vdek’s “Gespräch am Wasser” event.

26 June 2026, by Hannes Rathjen

Photo: vdek/Jörg Brekeller

"Setting the Course for Tomorrow’s Health" was the theme of an event hosted by the Landesvertretung Schleswig-Holstein des Verbandes der Ersatzkassen e. V. (vdek)  during this year’s Kiel Week "Gespräche am Wasser" (Conversations by the Water) series; the event brought together around 80 guests from the healthcare sector and the politics. Discussions focused on current healthcare reform initiatives at both the federal and state levels in Germany. HCHE core member Prof. Dr. Iris Kesternich was among the panelists. Kesternich emphasized that while Germany has one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world, it does not rank at the top in terms of medical outcomes. She criticized, among other things, the lack of effective patient guiding  and high expenditure on pharmaceuticals, which has risen by 74 percent over the past decade. She also noted that, given the aging population and staff shortages, Germany has reached a point where continuing with business as usual is no longer an option.

All speakers agreed that healthcare reforms are necessary. However, opinions diverged significantly regarding the assessment of current laws and legislative drafts.

Further information (in German) you can find in the press release by the vdek and in the article of the Ärzteblatt.