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The success of new cancer treatments such as immunotherapy causes a deficit of nearly 300 million euros in the federal budget.
A few days before the budget negotiations, the Minister of Public Health Maggie De Block warns her colleagues in Het Laatste Nieuws: "I will not save on this point". In 2019, Medicare will spend about half a billion euros more than initially expected. This phenomenon is largely due to the underestimated success of effective cancer treatments. Immunotherapy costs, for example, 255 million euros more than expected.
"The expenses for these treatments have indeed increased", recognizes Maggie De Block. "But thanks to that, we save lives or significantly increase the quality of life for patients."
In recent years, the minister had found financial solutions herself in her department. This time, she refuses to do so again. "That would mean that I have to cut ailments in health care, where I do not want to do it."
She is therefore waiting for a gesture from her colleagues during the upcoming budget negotiations in the coming days .
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