This is based on internal calculations reported by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Saturday edition) and confirmed by Warken’s ministry to the newspaper on Friday afternoon. Without Warken’s spending cap, the figure would have been almost 122 billion euros.
Never before has so much money been spent on hospitals in Germany. Hospital costs account for almost one-third of the total statutory health insurance (GKV) expenditure expected for 2026, which is projected to be between 369 and 369.5 billion euros. In 2019 and 2020, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital expenditures were less than 82 billion euros—27 percent lower than today. The figure was 85.9 billion in 2021, around 88 billion in 2022, 94 billion a year later, and 102.2 billion in 2024.
In the first half of this year, spending on inpatient treatments rose by 9.6 percent, or 4.8 billion euros, to 54 billion euros. For the full year, growth of ten billion euros to 112 billion euros is expected. This would represent an increase of almost ten percent compared to 2024.
With Warken’s austerity package, which passed the German cabinet on Wednesday, experts anticipate a cost increase of 7.1 percent for 2026—the lowest rise since 2023. Without these measures, expenditure growth would have been nearly nine percent—less than in 2025 but more than in 2024. The hospital savings of 1.8 billion euros planned by Warken are initially limited to the coming year.
The changes involve a one-time suspension of the so-called “most-favoured status” clause. As a result, hospital expenditure in 2026 must not rise faster than the actual cost increase in the hospital sector (reference value) determined by the Federal Statistical Office.
Warken aims to curb the cost increase to prevent the supplementary contribution rates for the GKV from rising next year for the first time since 2023. This is also supported by the decision to temporarily halve the funding volume of the Innovation Fund and to cap the increase in material costs for health insurers. Each of these two measures is expected to save 100 million euros, meaning total expenditure in 2026 will be two billion euros lower than feared.
The planned savings have faced opposition from hospitals and their associations. They warn that suspending the most-favoured status clause could lead to massive revenue losses and a further deterioration of hospitals’ financial situations. The federal government counters that, from the “Infrastructure Special Fund,” “immediate transformation costs” totaling four billion euros will flow to hospitals in 2025 and 2026. This money is intended to cushion cost increases and investment gaps from 2022 and 2023.
Furthermore, Berlin points out that between October 2022 and April 2024, six billion euros were made available to hospitals from the “Energy Relief Package,” of which 5.1 billion euros were utilized.
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