Hendrik Streeck, a gay CDU health-policy legislator and the federal government’s drug commissioner, has raised the question of whether extremely expensive medications should still be prescribed to very elderly people.
In medical self-management, he argued, there is a need for clearer and binding guidelines that certain drugs should not always be tried—there are simply phases in life when certain medications should not be used so casually, he said on the talk show “Meinungsfreiheit” on Welt TV.
Streeck pointed to diseases such as advanced cancer and the seemingly theoretical scenario that a new study might show a ten percent reduction in mortality. “But if you apply that to a 100-year-old, the question becomes: do you really want to use these expensive medications?” said the Bundestag member, who became widely known as a virologist during the COVID era.
He also spoke about personal experiences surrounding the death of his father, who died of lung cancer. “In the last weeks of his life, a lot of money was spent. And it didn’t help. The newest therapies were deployed. It didn’t help. And he spent more there than in his entire life in the health system,” he said, summing up: “That is simply a matter of course. It belongs in medical self-management.”
The service catalog of statutory health insurance is set by the so-called Common Federal Joint Committee (Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss). This body of the joint self-management in the health system includes representatives of doctors, health insurers, hospitals, and independent members. Patient representatives have an advisory role, but no voting rights.
Criticism of Streeck’s Remarks
Streeck’s remarks drew criticism from several quarters, including patient-protection groups. There was also opposition from politicians. The Left party reacted with outrage: “Such musings from a CDU health-policy maker are nothing short of shameful,” said Sören Pellmann, the Left party leader in the Bundestag, to the “Rheinische Post.” “Opening this debate further undermines social cohesion.”
Former FDP Bundestag vice president Wolfgang Kubicki was not impressed either. On X, the liberal noted, who rarely agrees with the Left, wrote: “An older person has exactly the same claim to good medical care as a young one. We must talk about efficiency in the health system, but this cold cynicism from Hendrik Streeck disgusts me and runs counter to the fundamental values on which this country is built: the dignity of the individual is inviolable.”
An older person has exactly the same claim to good medical care as a young one. We must talk about efficiency in the health care system, but this cold cynicism from Hendrik Streeck disgusts me and runs counter to the fundamental values on which this country is built: the dignity of the human being is inviolable.
Wolfgang Kubicki (@KubickiWo) November 12, 2025
The debate also recalls a proposal by Streeck’s gay party ally Jens Spahn from 2012. The then up-and-coming policymaker had commented on hip replacement surgeries, saying that people should be protected from “unnecessary operations” that are performed so that hospitals or doctors can profit. That remark also drew criticism. (dpa)
