Karl Lauterbach


Karl Lauterbach is a German scientist and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. He is professor of health economics and epidemiology at the University of Cologne. Since the 2005 federal elections, he has been a Member of the Bundestag.

Education and career

Lauterbach studied human medicine at the RWTH Aachen University, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Düsseldorf, where he graduated. From 1989–1992, he studied health policy and management as well as epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, graduating with a Doctor of Science in 1992. From 1992–1993, he held a fellowship at the Harvard Medical School.
Since 1998, Lauterbach has been director of the institute of health economy and clinical epidemiology at the University of Cologne and was appointed adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health in 2008. He was a member of the Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der Entwicklung im Gesundheitswesen from 1999 until he was elected to the Bundestag in September 2005. He was a member of the Rürup Commission, a committee of experts that was established to review the financing of the social insurance systems.

Political career

Lauterbach left the Christian Democratic Union of Germany to join the SPD in 2001. He made his entry to the Bundestag with a direct mandate by winning in his electoral district Leverkusen – Cologne IV at the 2005 federal elections. Between 2005 and 2013, he served on the Health Committee.
Ahead of the 2013 federal elections, Peer Steinbrück included Lauterbach in his shadow cabinet for the SPD's campaign to unseat incumbent Angela Merkel as Chancellor. During the campaign, he served as shadow minister of health. In the negotiations to form a government following the elections, he led the SPD delegation in the health working group and his co-chair from the CDU/CSU was Jens Spahn. From 2013 until 2019, he served as deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of successive chairpersons Thomas Oppermann and Andrea Nahles.
Appointed by Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe, Lauterbach served as member of an expert commission on the reform of Germany’s hospital care from 2015 until 2017.
In the 2019 SPD leadership election, he announced his intention to run for the position as the party's co-chair, together with Nina Scheer.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Lauterbach is a strong advocate of the so-called Bürgerversicherung, mainly favoured by the Social Democrats. The idea includes the reorganization of the German health system and the incorporation of all people and all income groups into the financing of the health care system.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lauterbach attracted significant attention on social media for his views, which were considered relatively rigid, often cautioning against the negative effects of premature relaxation of restrictions.

Personal life

Lauterbach married 1996 Angela Spelsberg, who is the medical director of a tumour centre in Aachen, until their divorce in 2010. They have four children.