(Health interests; 07-03; p.5)

Accordingly, profit interests of private health insurances and the pharmaceutical industry function at any rate as cost increasing factors within the health system, while the profit interest of employers at any rate works as a cost decreasing factor as well as that of employees at least in tendency.
Doctors and hospitals on the one hand have presumably a potential interest in profits; on the other hand some other factors surely have to be taken into account, namely a socially oriented attitude in case of doctors choosing and pursuing this profession - catch phrase: Hippocratic oath - and in case of hospitals their overwhelming non-profit orientation - not even ten percent of all German hospital beds are sited in private clinics (cf. Opielka).
The government eventually and the public health insurances do have an interest in a financeable health system, but this does not work as a separate cost increasing factor.

Patients cannot be ranked like this: on the one hand they have an economic interest in low costs, on the other hand one may presuppose an interest in high quality treatment that demands its price.

 

Winners and losers

Regarding the changes agreed upon in the "Eckpunktepapier" in their effect on actors mentioned, one can identify groups that have to cope with losses and groups that profit. Thus, the following modified figure emerges:

actors	measures	losses
employers
employees	financing sickness benefits alone	x
government
patients	more extra payments, but right of transparency	x
doctors, hospitals	case based payment, mandatory further qualification, competition	x
public insurances	limitation of administrational costs above average	x
private insurances
pharmaceutical industry	mandatory discounts, no administered prices for generic drugs	x

(read on here)