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Viewing cable 06BERLIN3156, GERMAN HEALTH MINISTER SCHMIDT TRAVELING TO U.S.

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06BERLIN3156 2006-10-30 14:52 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Berlin
VZCZCXRO4165
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHRL #3156 3031452
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301452Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5880
INFO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS BERLIN 003156 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EUR/AGS O'KEEFE, PASS TO HHS/OGHA SAYWER, WHITE 
HOUSE FOR USTR WEIZEL AND HALE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD EIND EINV SELAB PGOV SOCI GM
SUBJECT: GERMAN HEALTH MINISTER SCHMIDT TRAVELING TO U.S. 
 
REF: BERLIN 2884, BERLIN 2769, BERLIN 1893 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, NOT FOR INTERNET 
DISTRIBUTION. 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Minister of Health Ulla Schmidt 
travels to New York and Washington October 29 - 
November 4 to meet with pharmaceutical companies, 
consumer groups, and attend a Commonwealth Fund 
symposium on health care policy.  The trip is billed 
by the Ministry of Health as another opportunity for 
Schmidt to discuss German efforts at containing 
health care costs and gathering information from the 
U.S. and other sources on differing approaches to 
management of health care costs.  Schmidt is not 
scheduled to meet with USG officials directly, but 
her participation in the Commonwealth Fund's event 
will allow her to engage with Secretary of Health 
Leavitt.  This trip is the third to the U.S. in 
2006.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (SBU) Schmidt arrives in New York on Sunday, 
October 29.  In New York she will focus on 
pharmaceutical pricing and innovation.  Schmidt has 
three meetings planned.  The first, with Eon Labs, a 
subsidiary of Novartis specializing in generics, 
will focus generic drugs.  The second event is with 
the new CEO of Pfizer, which the Ministry of Health 
has billed as an introductory meeting.  The third 
meeting in New York is with AARP to discus Medicare 
part D.  (NOTE.  Originally Schmidt ws going to 
hold a round table discussion with th CEOs of major 
U.S. pharmaceutical companies, but according to MOH 
contacts, most of the CEOs wer unavailable.  The 
AARP event was scheduled as areplacement.  END 
NOTE.) 
 
3.  (SBU) November 1- 2, Schmidt will be in 
Washington to attend theCommonwealth Fund's Ninth 
International Symposium on Health Policy, "What 
Makes a High PerformanceHealth Care System and How 
Do We Get There?"  The symposium will focus on the 
problems and challenges facing health care systems 
in the U.K., Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, New 
Zealand and Germany.  Schmidt and team have no plans 
to meet with USG officials formally, but the 
Commonwealth symposium might be an opportunity for 
Secretary Leavitt and others to continue discussions 
 
SIPDIS 
on health care reform and U.S. cost containment 
measures with the German delegation. 
 
4.  (SBU) One subject for possible discussion with 
Schmidt and the German delegation in the context of 
health care reform and cost containment is the U.S. 
experience in the use of contracts and price 
bargaining between insurers and health care 
providers, e.g., pharmaceutical companies.  Such a 
discussion could directly support the on-going 
dialogue over pharmaceutical pricing in Germany. 
Another topic is how to care for uninsured and bring 
them into the system.  Germany currently has 300,000 
uninsured, a number that has increased dramatically 
in the past few years. 
 
5.  (SBU) At the Commonwealth Fund's symposium, 
Schmidt will speak about the German health care 
reform effort (see reftels).  The draft law was 
submitted to the Bundestag on October 27 and the 
Coalition hopes it will come into effect next 
April.  Press coverage and the public debate to date 
have been acrimonious.  Almost all of the coverage, 
however, focuses on two of the 14 different 
proposals for health care reform:  the creation of 
the health fund and the status of private insurers. 
Experts report these issues have received so much 
coverage because they are likely to affect the 
average consumer by increasing insurance premiums 
and overall costs.  The bill as currently drafted 
does not deal directly with pharmaceutical pricing 
issues which have been of concern to U.S. 
manufacturers. 
 
TIMKEN, JR