German Coalition’s Sick-Note Overhaul Draws Fire: 59% of Voters Oppose Mandatory Doctor’s Visit from Day One

A YouGov survey released after the coalition agreement shows that 59 percent of Germans reject the planned requirement for a doctor’s note starting on the first day of illness. A further 58 percent oppose scrapping the phone-based sick certificate that was introduced during the pandemic. These findings reflect a broad public backlash against what patient ombudsman Stefan Schwartze (SPD) called “an unnecessary burden on the sick” that betrays a “distrust of employees.”

The policy itself, hammered out by the ruling coalition on 2 July 2026, would eliminate the phone-based sick-note option entirely. For the first time since the pandemic, workers would need a valid medical certificate from day one of an absence – though the government stressed that patients would not necessarily have to visit a practice on that first day.

Union faction leader Friedrich Merz defended the change as a return to tried-and-tested rules. He was backed by CDU health expert Jens Spahn, who put the issue in stark statistical terms: Germany, he noted, averages 18 sick days per worker each year, the highest rate in the European Union. Official figures from the Federal Statistical Office put the actual average at 14.8 days for 2024, while the annual cost of continued wage payments during sick leave is estimated at between €82 billion and €85 billion.

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But medical associations have reacted with open alarm. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) calculates that the reform would trigger up to 30 million extra practice visits per year. DAK health insurance CEO Andreas Storm warned on 3 July of “chaos in GP surgeries,” arguing that a mandatory face-to-face certificate combined with the removal of telephone sick notes would lead to massive overcrowding. Economists are equally sceptical. Daniel Graeber of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) points out that analyses for the period 2020–2023 found only 0.8 to 1.2 percent of all sick reports were done over the phone. Graeber warns of counterproductive effects: longer recovery times and higher infection risks from waiting rooms.

The new rules would have little impact on long-term illness – which accounts for about 40 percent of all missed days, defined as absences lasting more than six weeks. That area remains untouched.

Inside the SPD, opposition has grown in the days since the 2 July agreement. Party chairs Lars Klingbeil and Bärbel Bas have both played down the decision. Klingbeil calls for a “sensible and workable implementation,” while Bas insists the stricter rule was not her proposal and that existing collective agreements with different arrangements must be respected. A possible compromise circulating in Berlin is the introduction of graduated sick notes – what Health Minister Christine Warken (CDU) described as “partial incapacity to work” in increments of 25, 50 or 75 percent. The government is also pushing video-based consultations as an alternative to in-person visits.

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