Doctors’ incomes should be limited to €290,000 gross per year to make healthcare more accessible and to reduce the current strong differences in salary between doctors, the Christian mutual fund suggested.
The basic idea is to introduce a scale where one doctor can earn a maximum of twice as much as another doctor. In the proposal of the Christian mutual fund, the standard income of a specialist doctor would be €145,000, and the maximum income would be €290,000 gross per year.
"We use the Prime Minister's standard, which has been taken over for the bosses of public companies," said Elisabeth Degryse, vice-president of the mutual insurance company. These amounts would apply to doctors working full-time, or 11 half-days per week, after deduction of costs.
"The current health care system has reached its limits,” said Degryse. “This is even more evident with the Covid crisis," she added, pleading for “a solution to make care accessible.”
“Doctor's fees (excluding supplements) make up about 30% of healthcare spending in Belgium, which, by the big bucks, represents an annual budget of 30 billion euros.”
As a result, a comprehensive reform of health care financing, including a review of the remuneration of hospital doctors, would be in order.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
