Health News

19 health insurance companies pay premiums to insured persons

Millions of people insured receive premiums

02/10/2013

Many statutory health insurances want to repay their insured person a premium of up to 120 euros in view of the current favorable financial situation in the current year. According to a survey of the news magazine „Focus“ 19 statutory health insurance plans (GKV) are planning to pay a premium of 30 euros to 120 euros this year. At the end of last year, new health insurance companies had already decided to take a similar step. A decision that should not have been particularly difficult for health insurances, especially since the surplus at the health insurances and health funds at the end of 2012 was estimated at around 30 billion euros.

Already in May last year, the Federal Minister of Health Daniel Bahr (FDP) and the Federal Insurance Office (BVA) had brought a possible use of the surpluses in the statutory health insurance for a premium payment to the insured in the conversation. In the autumn, in addition to the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), several other health insurance funds decided to pay out a corresponding premium. In the current year, the number of insurance companies that pay a premium to their members, according to the survey of the „Focus“ expected to increase to nineteen. Millions of insured could thus benefit from the distributions. In addition to the TK with approximately six million members, many smaller company health insurance funds in particular were prepared to make a premium refund.

Premium payments, structural reforms or improvements to the range of services?
The discussion about a premium payment to the insured has split the health insurances into two camps. While some willingly pay a premium of up to € 120 to their members in the face of existing surpluses, others want to use the funds instead to improve service provision and structural reforms. Thus, for example, the chairman of the board of the AOK Federal Association, Jürgen Graalmann, had spoken against the request of the Federal Minister of Health for premium payments and campaigned for the surpluses for „to use structural reforms of the statutory health insurance.“ In its last calculation in October 2012, the Federal Insurance Office's circle of estimates came to the conclusion that the health fund has reserves of almost twelve billion euros at the end of 2012 and that 15 billion euros are available to the health insurance companies as financial reserves. However, the surpluses have also aroused desires elsewhere. Thus, the draft budget of the Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) in 2013 already foresees a reduction of allocations to the health fund and in 2014 Schäuble wants to reduce this again by two billion euros.

Federal Finance Minister wants to cut funding from the health fund
The Federal Health Minister sees itself confirmed by the increased willingness of health insurance companies to pay the premium to the insured in his claims. However, his ministry is not particularly pleased with the proposals of the German Federal Minister of Finance for renewed reductions in allocations to the health fund. Here, other ministries are now asked to also make their Sparbeitrag for a balanced federal budget, according to the criticism from the Ministry of Health. Although the reduction in allocations in the 2013 budget has not led to a slump in health insurance surpluses, as confirmed by the current willingness to pay premiums. But this was sold by the Federal Minister of Finance as a one-time cut. Now it repeats itself „unique“ Reduction, which raises the question not only on the side of the opposition, why the surpluses are not used to a general reduction in contribution rates, which would relieve all statutory insured. The Federal Minister of Health let celebrate for the surpluses, instead of reducing the contributions for all insured, criticized the SPD health politician Bärbel Bas.

Unnecessary burden on the insured?
SPD member of the Bundestag Elke Ferner said regarding the renewed reduction proposal of Wolfgang Schäuble, that the Minister of Finance does not shy away from it, „to get the statutory health insurance in the pockets in order to present a balanced budget.“ But in the end, every euro that is missing in the health fund must be raised through contributions from the legally insured. The SPD politician anticipated that „with just over 50 million GKV members, every billion Schäuble reduced an additional burden of about 20 euros per year for each GKV member.“ Two billion euros cutbacks therefore mean around 40 euros more burden on the insured per year, so far. (Fp)