The financial gap in the statutory health insurance funds is apparently larger than previously assumed. As the “Bild” newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing calculations by the Institute for Health Economics (IfG), up to 25 billion euros will be missing in the coming year. In the previous estimates of a deficit of around 17 billion euros, the Ukraine war and its consequences had not yet been taken into account.
“Inflation is increasing expenses in practices and clinics, while the prospects for the labor market in autumn are rather poor,” said IfG boss Günther Neubauer “Bild”. If the financing deficits were compensated for by increasing contributions alone, this would result in contribution increases of up to EUR 537.02 net per year for top earners and EUR 455.16 for average earners.
The CEO of the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit, Andreas Storm, warned of a “contribution tsunami” in view of the numbers. He called on Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) to quickly present a law to stabilize the finances of statutory health insurance: “Together with the Federal Minister of Finance, Lauterbach must now answer the question of whether and how he wants to prevent the impending tsunami of contributions from the 70 million insured.”
Storm emphasized that the industry has been waiting for the announced draft law “for three months. If it is not submitted before the summer break, there will not be enough time before the health insurance funds draw up their budgets in the fall. For this we need planning security.”
