Federal Government billions package for the PKV

Federal Government: billions for private health insurance. The financial loss have the statutory health insurance.

(13.09.2010) According to calculations of the statutory health insurance funds, the Federal Government wants to favor the private health insurance in the course of the health care reform by approximately 1 billion euro Zuggewinnigen. The statutory health insurance funds and thus also the cash patients have the disadvantage. Because the deficit in the funds of the health fund will be larger and the pockets of the PKV so full.

Again and again, new details on health care reform are known. It is clear that the black-yellow coalition wants to strongly favor the private sector in health care. In the future, employees should be greatly facilitated the path to private health insurance. Thus, the statutory health insurance companies lose high contributors, the principle of solidarity is endangered. Furthermore, the additional benefits will be canceled at the cash registers. These include dental health and foreign health insurance, chief physician treatments and accommodation in a single or double room. These additional benefits (optional tariffs) can only be insured with private health insurance (PKV) from the entry into force of the health care reform. According to plans of the Federal Government, the private sector should also partially benefit from the compulsory discounts for the medicines. All this results according to the information „Berlin newspaper“, According to the calculations of the statutory health insurances, an amount of about one billion euros per year.

It seems the PKV lobby has direct access to the policy of the Minister of Health Philipp Rösler (FDP). Because the arguments are the same. Thus one argues, the tasks of the legal and private health insurance companies would have „differentiated“ become. It could not address, according to the argument of the private health insurance and the Federal Minister of Health, that the health insurance would take over the tasks of the private. On the other hand, Rösler wants to involve the private sector in the results of the discount negotiations with the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals. So far this has only been withheld from the legal.

According to the calculations of the health insurance companies make the private insurers alone by the facilitated change in private health insurance, a total of 500 million euros. High earners only need to earn more than 4125 Euro a month in one year. Then an employee can switch to private health insurance. The deadline for a change is reduced from three to one year. A draft regulation for the calculation variables in social insurance will reduce the income threshold from 4162.50 euros per month to 4125 euros. This means that employees who have a relatively high gross income, now much easier to switch to private health insurance.

Another 250 million euros change from the statutory in the PKV by the plan to ban electoral tariffs or additional benefits at the coffers. These include the single rooms in hospitals, the foreign health insurance, chief physician treatments, supplementary dental insurance or even naturopathy services. If it goes by the will of the black and yellow federal government, so may from the first of January 2011 only private health insurance companies offer such services. This is from a „collaboration“ This means that cash-desk patients now have to book the additional services with the private ones instead of receiving them from their own cash register.

The extent to which the Federal Ministry of Health intends to strengthen private health insurance is also reflected in the planned participation in the drug savings packages. According to the health plans, it is planned to let PKV insurance companies pay only the price of new medicines that the SHI negotiated in the discount negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies. This alone is to flush another 250 million euros into the coffers of insurance companies.

All planned improvements for the private health insurance - up to the price discount for the medicines - represent also at the same time a financial deterioration for the legal health insurers dar. That means, at the expense of the legal health insurances the private economy of the insurer is favored. With a difference in revenue and expenditure in private health insurance, just a few hundred million euros are a huge improvement in the business situation.

Observers are already talking about a systematic bleeding of statutory health care. In the future, citizens should secure themselves more privately and receive only basic basic services from the GKV. After all, there will be nothing left for the health insurances in future, other than to limit benefits to a greater extent. Further services should only be able to be insured privately. This is, as some social organizations rightly criticize, a per capita fee through the back door. According to calculations of the AOK the health insurance companies in 2011 about 11 billion euros. This enormous shortfall should be compensated almost exclusively by contribution increases and additional contributions. Out of the 11 billion now seem 12 billion euros. The episode: Further additional contributions in 2012. (sb)

Also read:
Bill endangers health care
Health insurance: contribution increases will come
No additional insurance with health insurance
Rösler wants to protect the pharmaceutical lobby

Image: Christian Seidel