Bavaria gives the nod to Kassen mergers:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The Bavarian regional government has given the go-ahead to two proposals for Krankenkassen mergers to form larger organisations with more purchasing power. The Land's 39 Ortskrankenkassen will merge on June 1st to form a single entity, as will the four Innungskrankenkassen in Ingolstadt, Eichstatt, Munich and Neuburg-Schrobenhausen. All the German Lander except North Rhine Westphalia now have single Ortskrankenkassen bodies.