Anger over Lauterbach's "Healthy Heart Law" - "What are we setting an example for our children here?"

Merkur Anger over Lauterbach's "Healthy Heart Law" - "What are we setting an example for our children here?" Hannes Niemeyer • 4 hours • 2 minutes reading time Health care system dissatisfied Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is planning a new law to better combat cardiovascular diseases. Experts are critical of this. Berlin - Karl Lauterbach and the health sector, neither side is really warming to new legislative proposals from the Ministry of Health. There is the controversial hospital reform, which has been sharply criticized by doctors and health insurance companies. The health insurance companies were also concerned about the new Health Care Strengthening Act, fearing higher contributions. Lauterbach is planning a "Healthy Heart Law" - and is being criticized by experts It is clear that cumbersome names are the order of the day for the Health Minister. This is also the case with the "Healthy Heart Law" that Karl Lauterbach is now planning. But here too, the plans are once again not well received. Karl Lauterbach wants the "Healthy Heart Act" - but there is criticism. The plan actually sounds sensible: cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death in Germany. Minister Lauterbach wants to do something about this, to counteract it. His draft for a "Healthy Heart Act" stipulates that children, young people and adults should undergo regular heart examinations in the future in order to identify and prevent lipid metabolism disorders. The law is intended to get cardiovascular diseases under better control - more medication for children? The examinations in childhood and adolescence are intended to provide early indications of whether there are hereditary reasons for lipid metabolism disorders. Medications for smoking cessation and lowering cholesterol levels should also be able to be prescribed more often. The SPD health minister's plan, however, is not well received by the experts. "More medication and check-ups for children are just actionism, but not a strategy to get this disease of civilization under control," said Josef Hecken, chairman of the Joint Federal Committee of doctors, clinics and health insurance companies, in an interview with the German editorial network. "What kind of example are we setting for our children here?": Lauterbach's law idea sparks anger From Hecken's point of view, the plans are heading in the wrong direction: "Instead of campaigning for children to eat a healthy and balanced diet and for there to be educational campaigns on a healthy lifestyle, drugs are to be prescribed," he complains. The drugs preferred by Lauterbach to lower cholesterol are not "peppermints from the supermarket," but drugs with many interactions and side effects. They cause muscle pain, liver damage and diabetes, for example. "Pills instead of a healthy diet and more physical exercise - what kind of attitude to life are we setting for our children here?" Hecken fumed. He went on to say that with such an approach, lifelong medication would begin in the future as early as the teenage years. "The approach of permanently administering medication to children must remain the absolute exception if there is no other option for medical reasons." Lauterbach law is intended to counteract this: cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in Germany According to the draft law, the services are to be financed by the health insurance companies. The Federal Joint Committee is the highest decision-making body for health insurance services. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Germany and, according to the Robert Koch Institute, causes around 40 percent of all deaths, around 350,000 per year. The Ministry of Health justifies the need for the law with, among other things, the lower life expectancy compared to other Western European countries and at the same time a deficit in prevention and early detection. A star doctor, meanwhile, gives three simple tips on how to prevent heart disease. (han/dpa)