Federal Minister of Health 2025–2026

Former

Federal Minister of HealthA portfolio minister: own department, budget and legislative programme.

Current, since 29 July 2026

Head of the Federal ChancelleryA coordinating office with no health portfolio. See Chancellery role.

Everything on this page belongs to the closed ministerial record. Health legislation that was unfinished on 29 July 2026 — including long-term care reform, the Health Security Act and the Medical Registers Act — is now in the hands of Federal Health Minister Carsten Linnemann.

Institution

What the health minister controls — and what not

The Federal Ministry of Health drafts federal health legislation, oversees statutory health and long-term care insurance and supervises federal agencies such as the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut and the Robert Koch Institute. It represents Germany in the EU's health council and in the World Health Organization.

Much of German health care, however, is run by others. The Länder plan hospitals and fund their investments. The joint self-government of doctors, hospitals and insurers — above all the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) — sets detailed rules on benefits and quality. More than 90 statutory health insurers collect contributions and pay providers. The ministry supervises the legality of what these bodies do, but it cannot simply order outcomes. Health ministers therefore govern mainly through legislation, which needs a majority in the Bundestag and, frequently, the consent of the Bundesrat.

This shapes how any tenure should be read: many measures were negotiated with the coalition partner SPD, the Länder and the self-governing bodies, and several began under her predecessor.

Dated ledger

The tenure, month by month

Key decisions and events from appointment to handover. Cabinet decisions mark the government's adoption of a bill; Bundestag and Bundesrat dates mark parliamentary stages.

6 May 2025Office
Appointed Federal Minister of Health
Part of the first Merz cabinet; succeeds Karl Lauterbach.
20 Jun 2025Europe
EU health ministers' council (EPSCO), Luxembourg
Attends the Council's health configuration. See European policy.
Summer 2025Controversy
Sudhof report on mask procurement
The ministry passes the special investigator's report to the Bundestag with redactions; opposition criticism follows (see dossier below).
6 Aug 2025Cabinet
Nursing competence bill adopted by cabinet
Expanded independent powers for qualified nurses. See Nursing care.
12 Sep 2025Finance
FinanzKommission Gesundheit presented
Ten experts asked to propose measures to stabilise contribution rates from 2027; constituted on 25 September.
23 Sep 2025Bundestag
First reading of the 2026 budget
Health spending of roughly €6,000 per person, more than doubled in two decades.
1 Oct 2025Digital
ePA use becomes mandatory for providers
Doctors, psychotherapists and pharmacies must work with the electronic patient record. See Digital health.
9 Oct 2025Bundestag
Uniform nursing assistant training passed
A federal 18-month training replacing state-level programmes from 2027.
6 Nov 2025Bundestag
Pflegekompetenzgesetz passed
Bundesrat approval on 19 December; in force 1 January 2026.
7 Nov 2025Finance
Average supplementary contribution for 2026 set at 2.9%
Announced by the ministry after the estimating group's October forecast.
27 Nov 2025Bundestag
Final debate on the 2026 health budget
Argues the system must change fundamentally to be preserved; cites hospital spending of around €120 bn, a further €1.7 bn loan to care insurance, +10% for health security.
17 Dec 2025Cabinet
Pharmacy reform adopted by cabinet
Bill to strengthen local pharmacies and widen their tasks; subsequently debated in the Bundestag.
Jan 2026Agenda
"Seven themes" for 2026
Finance commission, care reform, primary care, emergency care, pharmacy, digital law and further bills, as reported by Deutsches Ärzteblatt.
15 Feb 2026Security
Health Security Act outlined
Interview with Welt am Sonntag; government question time in the Bundestag on 25 February. See Health security.
6 Mar 2026Bundestag
Hospital Reform Adjustment Act (KHAG) passed
Bundesrat on 27 March; in force April 2026. See Hospitals.
30 Mar 2026Finance
Finance commission delivers 66 recommendations
Projected GKV gap of more than €15 bn in 2027 without action.
22 Apr 2026Cabinet
Emergency care reform adopted by cabinet
Integrated emergency centres and a strengthened 116117 service.
21 May 2026Bundestag
Medical Registers Act: first reading
Government bill 21/5922; public hearing on 10 June. See Medical registers.
Jun 2026Draft
Long-term care reorganisation draft circulated
A ministerial draft combining spending brakes and new revenue goes into government consultation.
10 Jul 2026Bundestag
GKV contribution-rate stabilisation act passed
318 yes, 284 no, 4 abstentions; around €19 bn in savings. See Health financing.
15 Jul 2026Cabinet
Data and digital innovation bill (GeDIG) adopted by cabinet
Next stage of the ePA, digital access to care and research data use.
29 Jul 2026Office
Tenure ends
Moves to the Federal Chancellery; Carsten Linnemann becomes health minister.

Portfolio at handover

Ten fields, their status on 29 July 2026

Status reflects the legislative stage reached during her tenure. "Passed" means adopted by parliament; "in parliament" means a government bill was pending; "draft" means a ministerial draft had not yet been adopted by cabinet.

Field	Main measure	Status	Detail
Financing	FinanzKommission Gesundheit; GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz	Passed	Health financing
Statutory insurance	Spending growth tied to wages; higher federal payment for basic-income recipients	Passed	System reform
Hospitals	KHAG; hospital cost cap in the GKV act	Passed	Hospitals
Medical care	Emergency care reform; primary care system planned	In parliament / planned	Health policy
Nursing	Pflegekompetenzgesetz; nursing assistant training	Passed	Nursing care
Long-term care finance	Care reorganisation draft	Draft	Nursing care
Health data & registers	Medizinregistergesetz	In parliament	Medical registers
Digital health	ePA obligation (Oct 2025); GeDIG	Cabinet bill	Digital health
Pharmaceuticals	Manufacturer discount 15.5% (GKV act); pharmacy reform	Passed / in parliament	Health financing
Crisis preparedness	Health Security Act plans; +10% health-security budget	Planned	Health security

Field notes

What happened in each area

Brief summaries; each field has its own page with sources, figures and counterarguments.

01Financing and statutory insurance

Her central project. With deficits projected in the double-digit billions from 2027, she set up the FinanzKommission Gesundheit in September 2025. Its March 2026 recommendations formed the basis of the contribution-rate stabilisation act, which caps spending growth across sectors in line with wages and saves around €19 billion. It passed on 10 July 2026 against fierce opposition from the Greens, the Left, the AfD and many provider groups; the SPD secured changes during the parliamentary process.

02Hospitals

The 2024 hospital reform under Karl Lauterbach introduced federally uniform service groups and a transformation fund. Her Hospital Reform Adjustment Act of March 2026 lengthened transition periods, gave the Länder more room for exceptions, cut the service groups from 65 to 61 and moved the statutory insurers' half of the €50 bn transformation fund to the federal budget.

03Medical care

The cabinet adopted an emergency care reform in April 2026 that would create integrated emergency centres at selected hospitals and reorganise the 116117 patient service. A primary care system with structured first assessment — digital or by telephone — was named as a central structural reform for 2026 but had not reached cabinet by July.

04Nursing

The Pflegekompetenzgesetz, in force since 1 January 2026, allows qualified nurses to perform certain tasks previously reserved to doctors, graded by qualification. A separate law creates a uniform federal nursing assistant training from 2027. Long-term care insurance finances remained unresolved at handover.

05Data and registers

The Medical Registers Act would set federal rules for Germany's more than 350 medical registers, create a Centre for Medical Registers and give legal certainty for data use. It drew support from research and medical bodies and criticism from data-protection experts at its June 2026 hearing.

06Digital health

The opt-out electronic patient record — launched under her predecessor — became mandatory for providers to use on 1 October 2025. In July 2026 the cabinet adopted the GeDIG bill, which would add a digital entry point to care via the ePA app and widen research data use.

07Pharmaceuticals and pharmacies

The GKV act raises the statutory manufacturer discount on medicines to 15.5 per cent and freezes certain prices. A pharmacy reform adopted by cabinet in December 2025 was intended to strengthen local pharmacies, particularly in rural areas; it was in parliament at the time of the 2026 agenda.

08Crisis preparedness and health security

In February 2026 she outlined a Health Security Act to prepare the health system for crises including an alliance or defence scenario: clear responsibilities, treatment capacity, stockpiles and a digital situational picture of beds, staff and supplies. The draft was planned for summer 2026; it had not been passed when she left office.

On the record · 27 November 2025 and 10 July 2026

„Wenn wir unser Solidarsystem grundsätzlich erhalten wollen, dann müssen wir es grundlegend verändern.“

Nina Warken, Federal Minister of HealthFinal Bundestag debate on the 2026 health budget, 27 November 2025. Source: Federal Ministry of Health.“If we want to preserve our solidarity-based system in principle, then we have to change it fundamentally.”

„Wir haben die Grundlage für stabile GKV-Finanzen geschaffen.“

Nina Warken, Federal Minister of HealthAfter the Bundestag vote on the GKV stabilisation act, 10 July 2026. Source: Federal Ministry of Health.“We have laid the foundation for stable statutory health insurance finances.”

Controversy

The Sudhof report, summer 2025

The most politically charged episode of her first months concerned a report about decisions taken years before she joined the ministry.

Redactions in the mask-procurement report

Contested

Background

Former minister Karl Lauterbach had commissioned special investigator Margaretha Sudhof to examine the procurement of protective masks in 2020 under then-minister Jens Spahn (CDU) — by 2025 chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.

What happened

The ministry under Warken initially did not release the report and then passed it to the Bundestag with redactions.

Criticism

Opposition politicians, among them the Greens' Janosch Dahmen, accused the ministry of using redactions to shield Spahn.

Response

Warken defended the redactions and said they had not been made to protect Spahn.

Outcome

The report later became public without redactions. The episode is discussed further under criticism and controversies.

Handover

What passed to her successor

On 24 July 2026 Chancellor Merz announced the cabinet changes; on 29 July Carsten Linnemann took over the ministry. The following items were open at that point and are now his responsibility.

Long-term care reform
The care insurance faced a projected deficit of around €8 bn in 2027. In September 2026 Linnemann said he aimed to bring a reform based on the draft from his predecessor's tenure to cabinet that month, and announced an expert commission for a wider overhaul.
Second stage of GKV reform
The finance commission's report on structural reforms is due by the end of 2026.
Bills in parliament or cabinet
Medical Registers Act, emergency care reform, pharmacy reform and the GeDIG digital bill.
Planned legislation
Health Security Act and a primary care system.

As Head of the Federal Chancellery she was reported in September 2026 to have reaffirmed the government's intention to proceed with social reforms, including long-term care and health insurance. That is a statement about government coordination, not continued responsibility for health policy.

Federal Minister of Health

What the health minister controls — and what not

The tenure, month by month

Appointed Federal Minister of Health

EU health ministers' council (EPSCO), Luxembourg

Sudhof report on mask procurement

Nursing competence bill adopted by cabinet

FinanzKommission Gesundheit presented

First reading of the 2026 budget

ePA use becomes mandatory for providers

Uniform nursing assistant training passed

Pflegekompetenzgesetz passed

Average supplementary contribution for 2026 set at 2.9%

Final debate on the 2026 health budget

Pharmacy reform adopted by cabinet

"Seven themes" for 2026

Health Security Act outlined

Hospital Reform Adjustment Act (KHAG) passed

Finance commission delivers 66 recommendations

Emergency care reform adopted by cabinet

Medical Registers Act: first reading

Long-term care reorganisation draft circulated

GKV contribution-rate stabilisation act passed

Data and digital innovation bill (GeDIG) adopted by cabinet

Tenure ends