Katastrophensensible Infrastruktur im Gesundheitssozialstaat

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the capacity of the welfare state (“social state”) to provide health protection. In light of the challenges of the pandemic, the social state principle needs to be reassessed, especially as it entails a constitutional obligation to organize health protection effectively. In addition, the concept of “resilience” may help explain why preparedness is one of the social state principle’s core characteristics. From the outset of the pandemic, the lack of preparedness has been a serious concern, along with the lack of cooperation between public health authorities and health care institutions. Particularly due to staffing problems and insufficient IT infrastructure, public health authorities have had to cope with perpetual performance problems. Consequently, the modification of legal provisions relating to the organization of health-related public administration is necessary to improve preparedness, performance, and cooperation.