Hartz IV recipients must pay additional contribution

Health insurance companies confirm: Hartz IV recipients must pay additional contribution

21.01.2011

ALG II recipients must pay additional contributions in the future. By changing the articles of association, the statutory health insurances can now oblige Harzt IV recipients to pay the difference between the reimbursements from the health fund and the additional contributions actually collected out of their own pocket.

The statutory health insurance funds can also Hartz IV recipients in future to pay additional contribution. In the course of health care reform, the Federal Government has basically exempted ALG II recipients from paying the additional contributions and provided for a corresponding allocation to the respective health insurance fund from the health fund. However, the health insurance companies only receive the average additional contribution of all health insurances set by the federal government, which currently stands at zero euros, since most health insurance companies currently levy no or only minimal additional contributions. In order to allow the funds to receive the full revenue from the additional contributions, the legislator has left open to them the possibility of a change in the statutes with which the health insurance companies can claim the difference between the additional contribution levied and the amounts actually paid out by the ALG II beneficiaries.

Health insurance companies request additional contributions by amendment of the statutes
To also Hartz IV recipients to participate in the additional contributions, the first six statutory health insurance have already adopted a corresponding amendment to the statute, reports the „Stiftung Warentest“. A spokesman for the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance has confirmed the report, but could not say how many ALG II recipients are affected by the amendments to the statutes. For Hartz IV recipients, whose health insurance already collects additional contributions and now demands them by changing the statutes of them, but sometimes creates a not so easy to solve problem. Because a special right of termination and thus the possibility to switch exists only if the additional contributions are raised or increased for the first time. However, this is not the case with most health insurance funds, which now merely adjust their statutes. Affected ALG II recipients who have missed the change date, the verdict of the Social Court Freiburg / Breisgau (Az. S 14 AS 3578/10), according to claim no claim to reimbursement of the job center and must ultimately demand the required amounts from their own Pay the bag.

Six health insurance companies have already passed amendments to the statutes
Of the nine statutory health insurance funds, which require an additional contribution in the first half of 2011, six have already passed an amendment to the statutes in order to oblige the ALG II beneficiaries to pay the additional contributions. For example, BKK advita, BKK Gesundheit, BKK Publik, City BKK, Deutsche BKK and Ersatzkasse DAK have already taken over „Stiftung Warentest“ a corresponding amendment of its statutes confirmed. Only the members of the KKH alliance, the BKK for health professionals and the BKK Phoenix are spared by the requirement of additional contributions so far. However, the payment of additional contributions for the above-mentioned insurance for the ALG II recipients is not a novelty, because until the health reform at the end of last year they had to pay in most cases out of pocket and could only reckon in special hardship cases with a refund. (Fp)

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Picture: Dr. Klaus-Uwe Gerhardt