The chairman of the DAK warns against a “ruinous price competition over the individual additional contributions” with regard to the costs for the insured.
The statutory health insurance companies warn against further increases in contributions and accuse the federal government of austerity measures at the expense of the contributors. “The bottom line is that contributors have to foot the bill by increasing the contributions in 2024 and in the years that follow,” said DAK CEO Andreas Storm of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Thursday). As an example, he cited the lack of inflation compensation for hospital financing.
Storm warned that there could be a “ruinous price competition over the individual additional contributions”. Each insurance company can determine the additional contribution itself, depending on its financial situation. The officially expected average additional contribution rate for 2023 had risen from 1.3 to 1.6 percent. It would be even more honest if the general contribution rate for all health insurance companies – currently 14.6 percent, divided between employees and employers – was raised, Storm said.
The AOK federal board chairwoman Carola Reimann criticized in the newspaper that the federal government has so far failed to come up with the solutions it promised in the coalition agreement to relieve the health insurance companies. “These have been on the table for years, such as adequate financing of health care for people receiving citizenship benefits through additional federal funds or the reduction in value added tax on pharmaceuticals.” Reimann estimated that this would bring about ten billion euros more income on the long-term side and around five billion euros in expenditure relief.
Source: Stern
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