German Coalition Clears Crucial Healthcare, Budget Packages (2)

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet approved a healthcare overhaul and a multi-year budget blueprint, laying the groundwork for a push to revive Germany’s economic growth.

The draft legislation, which was cleared on Wednesday, will now be debated and negotiated in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, over the coming weeks and months before they’re finalized.

“This is an example for all the big reforms that we still want to achieve in this coalition,” Merz told reporters in Berlin, saying that the health package was long overdue.

The ruling coalition’s reform agenda has struggled to gain traction as divisions persist ...