SPD Denies It Wants to Open Private Healthcare To All

Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) on Tuesday denied the contents of a report claiming it would propose that the country’s private health insurers be required to take any applicant, regardless of the person’s income or profession. Party sources told the news agency DPA that a report in the mass-circulation Bild newspaper had been "pure speculation." On Tuesday, Bild said the government wanted to open up private insurance to all Germans as a way of relieving some of the financial load on the government-funded public health care fund. Currently, private insurance is only available to self employed, government employees or those who earn at least €3,825 ($4,296) per month. "We want the competition to be about providing the best healthcare structures, not about the best risks," read the SPD's proposal, according to a Tuesday report in the mass circulation Bild newspaper. "Those who earn more, or who are young and healthy, should not be exempt from solidarity when it comes to health insurance."