Health Minister Bahr calls for opening the PKV

Private health insurance should be freely accessible

27/08/2013

Minister of Health Daniel Bahr (FDP) wants to make private health insurance available to all. His plan: Everyone should have the opportunity to insure themselves privately. Initially, the costs should be borne by yourself. However, Bahr's idea does not appeal to the CDU / CSU.

Citizens should „can decide for themselves how and where they want to assure themselves“
So far in the current election campaign on the part of the FDP has not been said much on health issues. But now Minister of Health Daniel Bahr has explained in an interview with the "Rhein-Zeitung" the position of the FDP on private health insurance. Thus, according to the Liberals, everyone should be free to decide whether they want to be members of private or public health insurance. As Daniel Bahr told the "Rhein-Zeitung", it was his concern, „that all people can decide for themselves how and where they want to assure themselves. That's my vision. It is necessary that everyone has insured the basic service.“

„vision“ of the Minister of Health provides for abolition of the compulsory insurance limit
„But what exactly does Bahr's idea mean?“ - This question is now asked as a voter. For the time being it was the rule that only officials and self-employed have free choice between the two insurance companies regardless of income. Otherwise, only those who have an annual gross income of at least 52,200 euros (or 4,350 euros per month) can insure themselves privately - which means that 90 percent of the citizens are currently insured by law. Accordingly, would have for the „vision“ Minister of Health will be waived.

The idea even exceeds the demands of the PKV association
With this idea, Daniel Bahr even goes one step further than the PKV-Verband. At the end of July, he had already called for a reduction of the mandatory limit. The reasoning: „Many have forgotten that the legal insurance was originally introduced only for the most vulnerable. That should still apply today“, said the association chairman Uwe Laue in an interview with the „Handelsblatt“. He could not imagine that 90 percent of the citizens would be vulnerable, so he would be „very much for lowering the compulsory insurance limit and giving more people the free choice“, so Laue on.

No support from the Union
With the idea of ​​making private health insurance accessible to everyone, the FDP is currently quite alone. Even the CDU / CSU as a current coalition partner is not behind the idea of ​​expanding the private funds business. On the contrary, the proposal to lower the mandatory limit by the private health insurance association was rejected by Jens Spahn, the health spokesman for the Union. The reason: This was "not a realistic option".

Bahr's idea one „GKVisierung of PKV“?
Bahr's suggestion that in the future everyone could freely choose which insurance he would like to join was only possible in Spahn's opinion, „If the private each insured person would have to take independent of pre-existing conditions or age. "But to implement this, would again be necessary to balance the risk, according to Spahn would mean the idea of ​​Bahr in essence, „to align private insurers for basic services with the logic of the legal system. That would be the GKVisierung the PKV. If this is the approach of the FDP, the exciting coalition negotiations, "the politician continues to SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Controversial discussions about dual system before the general election
Four weeks before the election to the Bundestag, the discussion about private and statutory health insurance will again be particularly heated. Thus, on the one hand SPD and Greens, which abolish the dual system of private and legal insurance in the end and instead the so-called „citizens insurance“ want to introduce. This provides that all citizens - irrespective of income up to the income threshold - are required to pay statutory health insurance. In doing so, the Social Democrats want to give those who are already privately insured a choice of whether they want to change. All citizens who would be new to the health insurance, would be according to this idea, however, automatically in the civil insurance - the private health insurance would thus have basically served.

Invoices from the doctor for all insured persons?
However, this idea is met with opposition from Union and FDP. Rather, Bahr also plans a change in terms of billing. As the Minister explained to the "Rhein-Zeitung", in his opinion, not only privately insured persons, but all insured persons should receive an invoice from the doctor after treatment. Thus, the patients would first pay their own bill and have the money reimbursed by their insurer afterwards. However, this possibility already exists today - but so far only a few legally insured persons make use of it. (No)

Picture: Ronny Richert