While the social-liberal coalition emphasized the success of its socio-political reform policies, Heiner Geißler, the CDU’s social affairs minister in Rhineland-Palatinate, claimed that a “New Social Question” needed addressing. In 1975, Geißler published a book by the same name. Using official statistics, he tried to prove that the actual number of needy persons in the Federal Republic far exceeded the number of those receiving social assistance. In doing so, Geißler wanted to point out that the existing system of social assistance, which depended on recipients being employed, did too little to prevent poverty, particularly in the case of the unemployed. In public discussions, Geißler also drew attention to other problematic developments, for example, such as the rise of health care costs.