The federal government's budget key elements ignore the increasing financial needs of health and nursing care insurance

26.03.2021 10:44

The administrative board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds states:

The Administrative Board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds found with astonishment and great concern that the federal government has not planned any additional budget resources to stabilize contribution rates for health and nursing care insurance in its key figures for the 2022 federal budget. This ignores the fact that statutory health insurance alone will have an additional financial requirement of around 16 to 19 billion euros in the coming year.

“Depending on further pandemic and economic developments, the additional financing requirements in 2022 could be significantly higher. It is already foreseeable today that the gap between the uncertain development of income due to the pandemic and the dynamically increasing expenses is widening,” says Uwe Klemens, alternating chairman of the board of directors of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds.

In order to exclude both increasing additional contribution rates from 2022 and alternatively conceivable statutory benefit restrictions for insured persons, the federal government must compensate for the corona-related increased financial requirements of the health fund in 2022 with additional federal funds.

The financial requirements of the nursing care insurance must also be taken into account. The reform approach that the Federal Ministry of Health is fortunately pursuing, namely to grant long-term care insurance an annual, dynamic federal subsidy from 2022 to compensate for the tasks it assumes for society as a whole, must also be reflected in the federal government's financial planning.

“Both measures would stabilize premium development and would therefore also benefit further economic development in Germany. The federal government is therefore called upon to take into account the necessary funds to stabilize the contribution rate level in health and nursing care insurance as part of its further budget planning,” said Dr. Volker Hansen, alternating chairman of the board of directors of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds.