Additional contributions: Solidarity principle on the brink?

29.02.2016 11:15

Does the additional contribution to statutory health insurance cause more damage than good? There are signs of dramatic changes in the German health insurance landscape as well as in the membership and insured structure. Is a change of course necessary here and now - perhaps a return to equal financing, as is being called for in many places? Various stakeholders will discuss this topic at the Western Health Congress on March 8th in Cologne.

Four out of five members of statutory health insurance companies have had to pay a higher additional contribution since the turn of the year - up to 0.6 percent more, depending on the insurance company. With a gross income of 3,000 euros, that amounts to around 18 euros. But it is already clear that additional contributions will continue to rise next year, by an average of 0.2 to 0.3 percent, as the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds predicts.

A current study into the willingness of those insured by statutory health insurance to change came to a worrying conclusion: if savings were less than ten euros per month, only 1.9 percent would look for a new health insurance fund and if savings were up to 20 euros, just 5.9 percent. However, if the savings were more than 20 euros, 44.6 percent of health insurance members would consider switching. Expensive health insurance funds would therefore have to reckon with dramatic loss of members.

But young and healthy health insurance patients are most willing to change providers, while sick and older people stay with their health insurance provider. Many experts feared that this would lead to a vicious circle for health insurance companies that have an older membership structure. Because it further aggravates the situation and leads to further increases in contributions. Health insurance companies are therefore increasingly trying to attract young and healthy new members and are spending millions on corresponding advertising campaigns. The aim is to “ensure qualitative growth by increasing the value of the insured assets,” says internal documents from a fund.

As a result of the additional contributions, the GKV is experiencing “intensified price competition, which unfortunately comes at the expense of competition for the best possible care,” a health insurance representative recently admitted.

The Western Health Congress 2016 will take place on March 8th and 9th at the Gürzenich Congress Center in Cologne. Around 900 visitors are expected again - clinic managers, doctors, those responsible for health policy and health companies, from research and science. The speakers planned are: Rudolf Henke, MdB, President of the North Rhine Medical Association and board member of the Marburger Bund, Hilde Mattheis, MdB, health policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Prof. Dr. hc Herbert Rebscher, Chairman of the Board of DAK-Gesundheit, Birgit Fischer, Managing Director of the Association of Research-Based Drug Manufacturers, and Dr. Gerhard Nordmann, 2nd chairman of the KV Westfalen-Lippe.