Due to rising billions in spending on health and care, new financial holes are looming for next year. How should they be plugged?
Millions of insured people will have to reckon with higher contributions for health insurance and care in the 2025 federal election year. “We will probably see an increase in the contribution rate,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) told the “Stern” newspaper. To justify this, he pointed to the planned reorganization of the hospitals: “Now is the phase in which we have to spend money, including that of the contributors. This is the only way to achieve the structural reforms that will curb cost developments in the long term and improve the system.” The statutory health insurance companies accused the minister of standing by and watching contributions rise.
When asked whether contributors would have to bite the bullet, Lauterbach said: “That’s the way it is.” But they would also benefit because they would receive better care, for example in the treatment of heart disease or cancer. “I don’t want to ruin the system by cutting costs. We need these investments,” said Lauterbach. One should not say: “Let’s just leave everything as it is.”
Additional contribution already increased
The additional contribution that the statutory health insurance funds set for their members has already risen by 0.1 points to an average of 1.7 percent this year. The total contribution, which is shared between employers and employees, also includes the general rate of 14.6 percent of gross wages. The statutory health insurance funds’ annual expenditure on benefits for their more than 58 million members and 16 million non-contributory co-insured persons adds up to almost 300 billion euros.
Health insurance companies demand stronger countermeasures
The umbrella association of health insurance companies criticized Lauterbach’s comments. “Instead of a plan of action on how the care of the approximately 75 million people with statutory insurance can finally be put back on a solid financial footing, he seems to be calmly announcing ever-increasing additional contributions,” said association head Doris Pfeiffer. The German Social Association complained: “Despite all the need for reform in the health care system, the costs must not be shifted unilaterally onto the shoulders of the contributors.” Tax revenue must also be used to finance the system – in a fair distribution of the burden for everyone.
How big will the financial gap be in 2025?
The average additional contribution for next year will be officially determined as usual at the beginning of November. This is a guideline value, and the health insurance funds can deviate from it depending on their financial situation. The umbrella organization warned that an increase of at least 0.6 points would be necessary at the beginning of 2025. The reason: the “expenditure-driving” legislation of the past ten years, not even including additional costs for hospital reform. In the first three months of 2024, the health insurance funds posted a loss of 776 million euros.
“Most expensive health minister of all time”
The nursing care insurance is expecting to be in the red in 2024 and 2025. Next year, this would mathematically require a contribution increase of 0.2 points, according to the umbrella association of statutory health insurance funds, which also represents the nursing care funds. “Instead of putting the brakes on spending so that social contributions do not get further out of control, the minister wants to continue to spend the money of the contributors with both hands,” criticized the head of the Federal Association of General Local Health Insurance Funds (AOK), Carola Reimann. “This makes Karl Lauterbach the most expensive Federal Health Minister of all time.”
Various reasons for rising costs
On the one hand, Germany, with its ageing population, is incurring higher expenses due to the growing need for care and health care – for medication and treatment methods, nursing staff or material costs such as energy. In addition, there is a whole range of projects with which the coalition wants to improve care – from emergency treatment to higher remuneration to maintain the network of general practitioners’ practices to more prevention against heart attacks. In return, savings are also to be made.
Second care reform in sight
Like Lauterbach, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) ruled out cuts in benefits for the insured due to the difficult financial outlook. A further stabilization measure has been announced for nursing care – after the coalition had already implemented a first one. It brought relief for those in need of care in terms of personal contributions, but also a higher contribution: for people without children, it will rise to 4 percent in mid-2023 and to 3.4 percent for contributors with one child. Families with at least two children now pay less than before – based on the employee share.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
