Heart disease is the most common cause of death in Germany. 90 percent could be prevented with better precautions.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach would now like to start there with a new law. He wants to record the risk of heart attack even in five-year-old children as part of the U9 examination. The law also stipulates that health insurance companies should cover the costs of “cholesterol-lowering drugs”, especially so-called “statins” to a much greater extent. “There is no disease so deadly where so much death is unnecessary. And it is sad that we have achieved so little in Germany,” says Lautersbach. The cabinet should discuss this before the summer break so that the law can come into force at the beginning of next year, says the Minister of Health. He thinks it could make a difference if smokers could also receive medication to help them quit as a health insurance benefit, or if doctors received a fee for offering smoking cessation.