In the pandemic, more and more taboos are being broken
When the President and Chairman of the 1st Senate of the Federal Social Court in Kassel shook one of the mainstays of our society on February 8, 2022, there was no storm of indignation throughout the country. There was a little contradiction, just a breeze, but today, only eighteen days later, it’s already forgotten.
Fifteen years ago, as part of one of the myriad health care reforms, a new category of diagnoses was introduced: the “self-inflicted” diseases. Since then, the community of solidarity has no longer paid for “self-inflicted” treatments. Patients have to pay the costs themselves. This applies expressly to piercings, tattoos and cosmetic operations such as breast operations or liposuction.
Since then, no further diagnoses have been made because the legislature quickly noticed that the question of guilt can never actually be clarified. The principle of guilt is the complete opposite of the principle of solidarity. It could even be called its gravedigger. The introduction of the principle of guilt in health care and medicine was and is a dangerous dam rupture that cannot be repaired so easily. But then Corona came.
First of all, in mid-2021, some politicians, and even a not inconsiderable number of doctors, were conspicuous by the fact that, in view of the heated triage hysteria, they were thinking aloud about denying unvaccinated Covid 19 sufferers treatment in the hospital until then vaccinated are not taken care of. There has never been anything like it in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, no triage has taken place so far, so this concept of “health for the obedient” has not had to face reality.
Then Stefan Dräger, CEO of Drägerwerke, which produces ventilators and masks, among other things, said: “People who refuse to vaccinate should avoid hospital treatment”.
However, the peak of antisocial demagogy was heard from a corner where one would never have suspected such a thing: Rainer Schlegel, President of the Federal Social Court, spoke out in February 2022 at his annual press conference in favor of unvaccinated Covid 19 sufferers sharing the costs of their treatment would have to be involved. “That should hurt the insured,” he said. Schlegel spoke of up to 200,000 euros that hospital treatment for severe Covid 19 disease could cost the general public.
If a company boss thinks in such categories, you can still shrug your shoulders and turn away. He doesn’t know any better. But if the President of the Federal Social Court and Chairman of the First Senate, who is of all things responsible for all questions relating to statutory health insurance in our country, wants to undermine the foundations of our social system, then all the alarm bells must ring. After all, the principle of solidarity is not a club statute. It is the foundation of our entire social system. It is one of the most important pillars on which our society is built.
Rainer Schlegel will preside for another year until his retirement. Until then, the verdicts from his 1st Senate must be read with the utmost care.
