AOK study Hundreds of thousands of PKV clients in need

AOK study shows hundreds of thousands of private patients in need

09/12/2013

Hundreds of thousands live in Germany in so-called precarious conditions. A study by the AOK came to this conclusion, as many people now have to raise up to 60 percent of their income for health insurance. A PKV spokesman refers in this connection also to similar contribution levels in the GKV.

According to the Scientific Institute of the AOK (WIdO), fewer and fewer private insured persons are able to pay their contributions. „Affected are increasingly solo self-employed“, the WIdO quotes its managing director Klaus Jacobs. In 2010, the institute stated that 4.6 per cent or 370,000 of private insured persons only earned an income of 8,000 euros. This amount is therefore below the subsistence level.

A spokesman for the private health insurance association was not to mention that self-employed with a small income in the GKV must pay at least 300 euros a month. Who is below the subsistence level, in which the public sector pays around 130 euros for the SHI.

Since 2009, there is the so-called base rate of private health insurance, which currently costs about 610 euros a month. For destitute the amount is halved to 305 euros. For the remaining 305 euros, the Employment Agency or the Social Welfare Office. From the point of view of private health insurance, the problem is solved for those affected, the paper shows expertly.

electioneering
Background of the message of the WIdO is its demand for a „common system“ for health insurance. This should „at the same time solidaristic and competitive“ his. „The dual health insurance system (...) is reaching its limits“, said Jacobs.

The current study is also to be considered under the aspect of the current federal election campaign. Recently, the Scientific Institute of Private Health Insurance (WIP) also published a study that concluded that the end of PKV would have a negative impact on the growth potential of the economy. For the study, the institute examined the significance of capital formation within private health insurance for the economy as a whole. In public discussion, this aspect is too short for the WIP. (Fr)

Image: Juergen Jotzo