Even guidelines of thumb might be incorrect. There may be an outdated saying that each tenth German citizen has personal medical insurance. Should you solely take a look at full insurance coverage, i.e. the second pillar after the statutory medical insurance (GKV), this orientation worth isn’t incorrect. In keeping with the most recent information, round 8.7 million individuals had been privately insured in 2023, whereas 73 million individuals had been coated by the statutory medical insurance system, i.e. round 87 % of the 84 million inhabitants in Germany.
Nevertheless, supplementary insurance coverage is usually forgotten in these PKV figures, and it’s on the rise: Whereas the variety of accomplished contracts remained secure final 12 months, the variety of supplementary insurances grew by 1.5 % to 29.6 million. In whole, 38.3 million individuals have some type of personal medical insurance. That is 46 % of all German residents or, because the Non-public Well being Insurance coverage Affiliation (PKV) generously places it, “virtually each second particular person.”
The entire variety of privately insured individuals is rising
The entire variety of personal insurance coverage insurance policies elevated by 432,700 in 2023. It’s noteworthy that for the sixth time in a row, extra individuals switched from statutory medical insurance to non-public medical insurance than the opposite method round. Right here, too, public notion usually differs, as there are lots of guides and experiences about how one can and may change from personal to statutory care to economize, particularly in outdated age. In keeping with information from the PKV Affiliation’s “2024 Accountability Report”, which has now been introduced, the PKV misplaced 116,500 individuals to the GKV final 12 months, however took over 166,300 from it; the optimistic steadiness was subsequently 49,800 individuals. The distinction for 2022 was 30,300.
General, personal medical insurance isn’t shrinking or stagnating, as was usually the case previously. Should you evaluate departures, particularly attributable to dying, and new arrivals, there was a slight enhance of round 400 individuals for insurers in 2023. Thomas Brahm, chairman of the PKV Affiliation, praised his trade, saying, “Along with the excessive stage of medical care, the insured additionally worth the soundness of the PKV’s lifetime profit assure.” He made this assertion on the PKV’s annual convention in Berlin on Thursday: “The information exhibits: Many individuals need to come to the PKV.”
On the congress, Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and CDU Secretary Common Karsten Linnemann dedicated to a debt brake. “I believe a debt freeze is the suitable step; it has been thought of right down to the final element,” Wissing mentioned. The authorized restrict signifies that “we’ll cease inflating the debt for the following generations.”
Linnemann: Don’t distribute social advantages from watering cans
Linneman expressed himself equally. “We’d like stress for reform. If we droop the debt brake, this may solely delay the dismantling of outdated constructions,” he mentioned. Social advantages shouldn’t be distributed haphazardly. This is applicable to residents’ cash, but in addition to well being and nursing care insurance coverage: “In fact the well being system must be for the individuals, but it surely shouldn’t get out of hand as if particular person accountability is now not sturdy in the meanwhile.”
Ulrich Leitermann, deputy chairman of the PKV affiliation, warned that the GKV’s demand for extra money from the price range was the incorrect strategy: “Consequently, well being care falls right into a distribution battle with different vital state duties, and in the long run there’s the danger of medication changing into budget-dependent.” Alternatively, the PKV system, with its focused build-up of pension capital, is secure within the face of demographic modifications and can be “generation-friendly”.