2024-06-20 21:07:19
Well being care in Germany prices billions – and the monetary scenario stays tense. Will it’s dearer for contributors within the yr of the federal election?
In view of rising billions in expenditure, statutory medical health insurance firms (GKV) are warning of will increase in contributions for insured individuals subsequent yr. A further monetary requirement of 0.5 to 0.6 share factors is to be anticipated in 2025, mentioned the top of the GKV umbrella affiliation, Doris Pfeiffer, in Kremmen, Brandenburg.
This doesn’t even embody extra prices from ongoing legislative proposals. Pfeiffer known as for basic monetary reform. “The spiral of accelerating contribution charges should be damaged.”
The extra contribution that the statutory medical health insurance funds set for his or her members had already been elevated barely to a mean of 1.7 % for this yr. The entire contribution additionally contains the overall fee of 14.6 % of gross wages, which is shared between employers and staff. Within the yr of the federal election in 2025, the wrestle to fill monetary gaps within the care of the 58 million medical health insurance fund members and 16 million non-contributory co-insured individuals will proceed. All in all, this includes profit expenditure of virtually 300 billion euros yearly.
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- Learn right here: These medical health insurance firms will enhance the extra contribution in 2024
There’s “no indication that the all-clear has been given” when it comes to expenditure, mentioned Pfeiffer. Within the first quarter of 2024, it grew by 7.1 % per insured particular person. For the yr as a complete, the GKV Affiliation expects a rise of 6.5 % and for 2025 of 5.0 to five.5 %. However, contribution revenue is predicted to rise by 5.4 % this yr and by 4.4 % in 2025. The background to that is that employment is secure in the interim and up to date excessive collective bargaining agreements are having an affect.
It’s now not an choice so as to add one thing from the funds’ monetary buffers, as Pfeiffer made clear. It’s a huge query whether or not the minimal reserve of 5.4 billion euros required by the funds for 2024 can nonetheless be met. It’s at present anticipated that some funds should enhance the extra contribution, which is normally fastened at first of the yr, in the course of the yr. One more reason for that is that the funds have melted away billions in reserves lately, partly as a result of authorized necessities.
So as to stabilize the statutory medical health insurance funds, the site visitors mild coalition had already offered an additional monetary injection for 2023, which averted an in any other case anticipated deficit of 17 billion euros. The cash got here, amongst different issues, from money reserves and a rise within the extra contribution of 0.15 factors to 1.51 %. The federal authorities elevated its common subsidy of 14.5 billion euros by two billion euros, and the pharmaceutical trade and pharmacies had been additionally known as upon. In response to the GKV Affiliation, the underside line for the funds was a deficit of 1.9 billion euros in 2023.
A brand new monetary injection from the federal authorities for 2025 will not be in sight in the interim, particularly since negotiations on the funds are already tough sufficient. Well being Minister Karl Lauterbach has made it clear a number of instances that he’s usually not contemplating slicing companies. The medical health insurance firms are involved that a number of of the SPD politician’s plans will enhance spending even additional – from a fund for the reorganization of hospitals to incentives for pharmaceutical firms within the combat towards provide bottlenecks to raised situations for household docs. That is more likely to end in a further spending danger of two billion euros for 2025.
For a while now, the medical health insurance firms have been protesting towards the usage of contribution cash for common public companies – for instance, when the medical health insurance firms are left with a part of the care prices of individuals receiving citizen’s allowance. It does matter the place the cash comes from, argued Uwe Klemens, co-chairman of the GKV umbrella affiliation. Tax cash is raised by everybody, contributions solely by medical health insurance members and employers, with privately insured individuals being omitted and excessive earners benefiting from an higher restrict.