The Federal Minister of Health is faced with the challenge of keeping the contribution rate for the insured stable despite the cash deficit.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The financial imbalance of the statutory health insurance companies has dramatically worsened in the past year. According to data from the Federal Ministry of Health, the corona pandemic has led to a record deficit of around 5.8 billion euros.
The reduction in the financial reserves of the cash registers also had an effect. In 2020, the deficit had already grown significantly to 2.7 billion euros.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) sees the health insurance companies “facing major financial challenges”. The goal this year and next is to keep the contributions as stable as possible. At the weekend he had announced that he wanted to use the existing efficiency reserves of the health insurance funds, adjust the regulations for the accumulation of reserves by the health insurance funds and increase the tax subsidy.
The grand coalition had kept the additional contribution to health insurance at 1.3 percent with the help of a historically high subsidy of 28.5 billion euros. According to internal cash register calculations, more than 30 billion euros would be needed for the coming year to keep contributions stable.
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According to data from the Ministry of Health, at the end of 2021 the reserves of the health insurance funds were still around eleven billion euros. The health fund, which collects and distributes money from the health insurance companies, achieved a surplus of 1.4 billion euros, and its reserve was last 7.9 billion euros.
In the case of cash registers, income of 278.6 billion euros was offset by expenditure of 284.3 billion. Of the expenditure, around eight billion euros went to the transfer of assets from the health insurance funds to the health fund to stabilize the contribution rates. At 85.1 billion, hospital treatments made up the largest block of expenditure.
Union fears reduced benefits
The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) warned of possible benefit cuts to counteract the financial imbalance of the funds. “Less performance in health care is not an option,” said DGB board member Anja Piel the Handelsblatt. Minister Lauterbach stands for this “with his promise in his word”.
Instead, the federal government must fill the growing gaps in the health insurance companies’ finances as quickly as possible. “In the short term, the federal government must contribute more to the financing of the health insurance companies and, for example, finally make cost-covering contributions for Hartz IV recipients,” said Piel. In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP only promised without obligation to pay “higher contributions” to the coffers for these people in the future.
In the medium and long term, the costs of illness would have to be shared among more and stronger shoulders, Piel demanded. Citizen insurance is the better model for this. Higher earners, who are currently often privately insured, would also pay into such a scheme.
More: Health insurance companies expect a gap of 17 billion euros for 2023 – insured persons are threatened with higher contributions