Daniel Bahr (; born 4 November 1976) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as Federal Minister of Health from 2011 to 2013. His party failed to get a seat in Bundestag at the 2013 federal elections, and he started to work for Allianz insurance group. Due to his previous position as Minister of Health, his move to a private sector healthcare player has been heavily criticized by the public.

Early life and education

Bahr was born the son of a policeman in Lahnstein,

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. He graduated from Immanuel-Kant High School,

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, in 1996. He subsequently went on to an apprenticeship as a bank clerk at

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG () was a German bank, founded in 1872 in Dresden, then headquartered in Berlin from 1884 to 1945 and in Frankfurt from 1963 onwards after a postwar hiatus. Long Germany's second-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank, it was eventually ...

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In the winter of 1998 Bahr began studying economics at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Economics. In 2008 he completed another course of study, focusing on international healthcare and hospital management, graduating with a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

(MBA).

Political career

Bahr joined the Young Liberals (the German short form is "JuLis" from Junge Liberale) at the age of 14 in 1990. Two years later he became a member of their mother party FDP. From 1994 to 1996, he was chairman of the JuLis in the district of

. In 1999, he was elected national chairman of the JuLis, an office he held until 2004. Bahr became a member of the FDP's federal executive board in 2001. He was widely regarded as the FDP's expert on health policy. In 2003, he became chairman of the party's "Zukunftsforum" (Future Forum) on "Frauen, kinderfreundliches Deutschland, Generationengerechtigkeit" ("Women, Child-friendly Germany, a Generation Fairness"). Bahr served as the chairman of the FDP in the Münsterland district in 2006, and led the party's opposition against the

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

's health sector reform. On 27 November 2010, he was elected at the state convention of the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP to the state chairman. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

of the FDP and the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) following the 2009 federal elections, Bahr was part of the FDP delegation in the working group on health policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

and Philipp Rösler. On 12 May 2011, Bahr was appointed by the Federal President to become the Federal Minister of Health in Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

's second government. His predecessor, Philipp Rösler, moved on to become Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Vice-Chancellor. On the same day his swearing-in ceremony was held in the German Bundestag. With the German care home sector facing an acute labor shortage, Bahr proposed relaxing rules for bringing in foreign care workers. In 2012, Bahr was selected a ''Young Global Leader'' by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

. With the commencement of the Cabinet Merkel III on 17 December 2013 Bahr retired from the federal government.

Career in the private sector

From February to mid-2014, Bahr served as a

health care reform Health care reform is for the most part governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place. Health care reform typically attempts to: * Broaden the population that receives health care coverage through either public sector ins ...

advisor for the

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy think tank, research and advocacy organization which presents a Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal viewpoint on Economic policy, economic and social issues. CAP is headquarter ...

. In addition, he worked as a guest lecturer on

health economics Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to Health care efficiency, efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in dete ...

at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. On 29 September 2014, it was announced that Bahr would join the executive board of Allianz Private Krankenversicherungs-AG (APKV), a health insurance provide owned by

Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

. Following the approval of the

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (), better known by its abbreviation BaFin, is Germany's integrated financial regulatory authority. Since 2014, it has been Germany's national competent authority within European Banking Supervision. ...

(BaFin), he has been serving on the company's executive board since 2017.

Other activities

Corporate boards

ERGO Group ERGO (ERGO Group) is a group of insurance companies owned by Munich Re. ERGO is one of the largest insurance groups in Europe. It operates in over 20 countries, especially in Europe and Asia. In Europe, ERGO claims to be number 1 in the health ...

, Member of the Advisory Board (−2009)

Non-profit organizations

* UNITE – Parliamentary Network to End HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and Other Infectious Diseases, Member (since 2021) * DUK Versorgungswerk e.V., Member of the Advisory Board (−2009) * German Cancer Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * Jugend gegen AIDS, Member of the Advisory Board

Controversy

In 2010, Bahr caused controversy when he—amid a dispute over the proposals of Philipp Rösler to introduce a health premium—accused the coalition partner CSU of behaving like "wild boar" and "only destructive".

Personal life

In 2008, Bahr married lawyer Judy Witten in

. The couple has three children. In 2019, he was diagnosed with cancer.Timot Szent-Ivanyi (10 May 2019)
Ex-Gesundheitsminister Daniel Bahr an Krebs erkrankt
'' Lübecker Nachrichten''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahr, Daniel 1976 births Living people People from Rhein-Lahn-Kreis University of Münster alumni Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Health ministers of Germany Federal government ministers of Germany Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)