Actor: Heinz Hoenig’s operation was successful

Actor Heinz Hoenig (72) has had surgery. The operation lasting several hours on his esophagus on Monday was successful, Hoenig’s management Siegelring announced on the same day at the request of the German Press Agency. At the beginning of May it was announced that the actor was in the hospital.

The actor is known to many from television film roles, for example he starred in the 1980s success “Das Boot” and also in television multi-part series by director Dieter Wedel from the 90s (“The Great Bellheim”, “The Shadow Man”, “The King of St. Pauli”). Most recently he took part in the RTL jungle camp in Australia as a candidate. Because of his stay in the hospital, his appearance in the musical “A Little Peace” by composer Ralph Siegel at the Deutsches Theater in Munich had to be canceled.

In the past few days there have been repeated media reports about Hoenig and his hospital stay. Management also discussed the fact that the 72-year-old, who later became a father again, does not have health insurance. There was even an appeal for donations.

Grateful for the donations

Hoenig’s wife Annika (39) said on the RTL program “stern TV am Sonntag” that an application to be included in the statutory health insurance company had been rejected. The conditions are not met. She doesn’t know what to do next.

Hoenig’s wife was grateful for donations. “He used to earn good money and could have taken precautions, yes,” said Annika Hoenig. He always had to pay for everything himself – and at some point the reserves ran out.

In response to a dpa inquiry last week, Heinz Hoenig’s management described: “Due to a lack of orders, Mr Hoenig was ultimately no longer able to pay the health insurance contributions. Since he was insured differently through different orders, it first had to be determined which health insurance company Since he was last insured, Mr. Hoenig is over 55 years old, which also made the process of being reinstated to the health insurance company more difficult.

As a representative of the Federal Acting Association BFFS, actor Heinrich Schafmeister explained upon request that Hoenig was not an isolated case. There are also structural reasons why many people in the acting industry get into difficulties as they get older. In addition to difficult employment conditions, there are often gaps in insurance. This often has consequences, especially if there are no further big roles. It doesn’t just apply to actors: “Anyone who falls into poverty in old age may no longer be able to pay for private insurance.” This happens more often, says Schafmeister. “Poverty in old age occurs among very, very many actors, not only among the unknown ones, but also among many well-known ones. Many would be surprised if they knew who all this applies to,” explained Schafmeister.