DAK & BKK Gesundheit becomes DAK Gesundheit

DAK and BKK Gesundheit form a merger from 2012 onwards

10/11/2011

The German employees health insurance DAK and the company health insurance BKK health have officially announced their merger at the turn of the year today. Thus, two of the largest statutory health insurance companies in Germany will form a merger. The new health insurance will be named „DAK health“ to be continued with headquarters in Hamburg. For the insured should change nothing in the future. The additional contributions will continue to exist.

From both health insurances becomes the "DAK health"
The DAK and the BKK health want from 2012 a joint health insurance with the title „DAK health“ establish. With around 5.6 million members, DAK is the third-largest alternative health insurance fund in Germany. In the BKK health are according to own data nearly one million humans legally insured. The health insurance is the third largest health insurance company in Germany. According to the merger, about 6.6 million people would be insured in DAK Gesundheit. The Board of Directors of BKK Gesundheit had already approved the merger on the weekend. Today, the DAK has now agreed to form a joint health insurance. „With this combination of two strengths, DAK health will clearly stand out from its competitors“, said the DAK chairman Herbert Rebscher. Thomas Bodmer, board member of BKK Gesundheit stated: „The merger of the largest company health insurance fund and the third largest health insurance fund bundles the special competence of both partners and brings clear advantages for the customers. DAK Health will lead the way in workplace health care. In the treatment of many diseases, the insured benefit from a variety of specialist medical networks“. Already a year ago, a merger was planned. The BKK health finally canceled the merger. Internal circles had advised the board not to approve the merger. "In the end, we found it does not fit“, At that time it was called from DAK circles. Apparently, the differences and reservations of that time were resolved. Internal circles had reported according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) that the dramatic loss of members of both funds after introduction of the additional contribution was not an adequate basis to carry out a merger.

Additional contribution remains
Both funds require from their insured an additional contribution of eight euros per month and member. As a result, both health insurance companies had to contend with high membership losses in the past year. The Management Board left open whether the additional contribution will be due in the coming year. But the BKK lost several hundred thousand members, who made use of their former special right of termination. The merger should help to strengthen the market position with a new number of members. It was not until 2010 that BKK Gesundheit merged with the former BKK FAHR. In the current annual report of the fund, the additional contributions are justified by the underfunding of allocations from the health fund.

In financial year 2010, BKK Health had generated revenues of around € 2.636 billion, of which around € 2.535 billion came from allocations from the health fund and € 66 million from additional contributions. This compares to total expenditure of 2.657 billion euros. Thus the cash register could not reach black numbers also in the last year. Compared to the SZ emphasized Herbert Rebscher, the BKK health would now „write black numbers“. The merger will allow both funds to benefit from each other's strengths. The DAK would benefit from the age structure of the BKK health insured, which is about 10 years lower on average than at the DAK. By the member increase it is now easier to maintain the branch network. In addition, the health fund benefits from the expertise of BKK in looking after corporate clients. "This will become more and more important in the future," says Rebscher. According to its own statements, DAK was also able to generate a surplus in the millions for the first time during the year.

The cash register situation is different today than it was a year ago. At the beginning of the year, insured contributions were raised as part of the healthcare reform. Accordingly, the allocations from the health fund have also risen. The extra contributions collected plus the increase in the contribution rate to 15.5 percent gave the statutory health insurance companies additional income and prevented so far billion deficits.

Members barely affected by the merger
The newly merged health insurance company will be affiliated to the association of alternative health insurance funds. The budget of the new health insurance is stated for 2012 about 20 billion euros. For the insured of both funds, the merger should not mean any additional expense. The health cards or health insurance cards will continue to be valid. All therapies can be continued without any problems or limitations. The supplementary insurance policies with their preferential conditions remain in place.

DAK Health's third largest health insurance
The new BKK Gesundheit is the third largest health insurance company in Germany. The top position is currently occupied by Barmer GEK with around 8.6 million members, followed by the Techniker Krankenkasse with 7.6 million insured persons. With the merger of the funds, the two health insurance companies are following a new trend. In addition to BKK Health and DAK, many other health insurances want to merge at the beginning of 2012, such as the AOK Saarland, the AOK Rhineland-Palatinate and the IKK Südwest to the "Gesundheitskasse Südwest". Or the BKK VBU and BKK futur to the "BKK VBU". The mergers hope the health insurance companies better market opportunities and more flexibility. (Sb)

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