(Foto: Getty Images)
Düsseldorf The mood among the statutory health insurance companies (GKV) in Germany is irritated, because the funds are running out of money. The calculation of the group of estimators at the Federal Social Security Office serves as the basis for determining the average additional contribution rate.
It includes experts from the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Office for Social Security and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds. He expects a financing gap of 17 billion euros for the coming year. “With the system-related time delay, the industry is now feeling the result of Jens Spahn’s laws,” says Thomas Adolph, Managing Director of Kassensuche GmbH.
The former Federal Health Minister Spahn (CDU) had burdened the health insurance companies with additional services on the one hand, but on the other hand obliged them to tap into their reserves. “The financial gap has structural causes and is mainly the result of expensive laws in the past,” said Jens Baas, head of Techniker Krankenkasse, in a recent interview with the “Rheinische Post”.
For him, it is important to stop waste in the system and to ensure that the federal government takes over the health care costs for Hartz IV recipients. “It’s particularly annoying that the period of good economic activity that we had behind us wasn’t used for reforms,” says the TK boss.
Tagus Top-Jobs
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Statutory health insurance 2023: will the contributions be more expensive for each insured person?
The current Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach (SPD), is forcing the health insurers to release reserves in order to offset part of the expected deficit. At the same time, the Bundestag decided to raise the average additional contribution in statutory health insurance by 0.3 percentage points from 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent at the turn of the year – a new record high.
For the approximately 74 million health insurance members in Germany, however, their health insurance will not necessarily become more expensive. The Handelsblatt asked the currently top-performing health insurance companies how they intend to adjust their contributions and offers as of January 1, 2023.
Result: the coffers are still waiting to make a decision. The vast majority refers to an outstanding decision by their board of directors.
However, TK boss Baas promises: “We will continue to be cheaper than the average rate.” And the commercial health insurance fund (HKK) also announces: “Due to the high level of profitability of the HKK, our additional contribution will in all probability also be the cheapest of all German health insurance companies in 2023. “
Rating methodology
Based on the results, DFSI Ratings assigned grades to the providers examined and carried out a rating. 90 points and better correspond to “excellent” (rating grade: AAA), 80.00 to 89.99 points result in “very good” (AA+), 60.00 to 79.99 points result in “good” (AA or A+ with less than 69.99 points), 40.00 to 59.99 points are “satisfactory” (A or BBB+ with less than 49.99 points), for 20.00 to 39.99 points a “sufficient” is awarded (BBB or BB). Zero to 19.99 points are “poor” (B or C).
Insured persons can avoid higher costs for their health insurance if they switch to an insurer that is cheaper than their current one. At 15.29 percent, the HKK is currently charging the lowest rate in Germany. Compared to the previous year, however, the Hanseatic League increased their contributions by 0.3 percentage points. This is shown by the current quality rating of the statutory health insurance companies, which the German Financial Service Institute (DFSI) created exclusively for the Handelsblatt.
Health insurance comparison: Not only the price decides when changing
However, the evaluation also shows that policyholders should not just look at the price when making a change. The range of services offered by the new cash register must also match their needs. There are big differences, especially when it comes to voluntary additional benefits.
The DFSI worked out this and compared the contribution rates and offers from 69 statutory health insurance companies. In addition, the experts put service and financial strength to the test. On the following pages we present who the top providers are and what they have to offer in terms of performance and service.
You can read more about health insurance here:
First publication: 11/16/22, 12:55 p.m.