Optendrenk defends reallocation in the 2024 draft budget
Finance Minister Marcus Optendrenk (CDU) has defended the reduction in investment funds for hospitals in the 2024 draft budget compared to the original approach. The state's funding framework for the NRW hospital plan of around 2.5 billion euros will remain unchanged in the coming years, Optendrenk said in Düsseldorf on Friday. "But in 2024, not as many funds will flow out, even if (CDU Health Minister) Karl-Josef Laumann enters the approval process now," he explained. It would therefore be possible to shift 150 million euros from 2024 to 2025. The government had announced this and other shifts in the 2024 draft budget against the backdrop of weaker tax revenues.
The Finance Minister referred to a dispute between the federal and state governments: the federal government had been pursuing different goals in the hospital structure than the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for a very long time. "Then, in the summer, there was an agreement on how to dovetail this a little better," he explained. This led to a certain delay in the overall process and also in hospital planning in NRW. However, this coordination was necessary because a large proportion of the funds for the hospitals came from the health insurance funds and the federal government. The state provides investment funds. Ultimately, however, funds would not be needed in 2024 to the extent initially thought.
The SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament has already accused the black-green state government of "shaving" the budget and postponing necessary investments like a bow wave so as not to jeopardize the "black zero" in its budget. "The implementation of the NRW hospital plan has not even started yet, and the Minister of Finance is already cutting almost half of the funds for the opening year 2024 for the Minister of Health," said SPD MP Thorsten Klute. The state has been investing far too little in its hospitals for years. The investment backlog amounts to 16 billion euros. This backlog is growing by a further billion every year. The SPD is calling for two billion euros per year to be invested in hospitals.
In light of the budget reallocation, Optendrenk mentioned that household finances could potentially benefit, as 150 million euros earmarked for 2024 might be shifted to 2025. Moreover, the government's decision to adjust finance allocations is linked to the role of both the federal and state governments in funding the hospitals, a crucial aspect of public expenditure managed by the Government.
Source: www.dpa.com
