Almost 8,000 uninsured in the health insurance

Only a small portion of uninsured makes use of new law

21/12/2013

The number of uninsured persons in Germany remains alarmingly high: According to official figures from the Federal Statistical Office, about 140,000 people have no health insurance, although the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher. A new law should now fundamentally change this situation by eliminating contribution debts and thereby facilitating re-entry into health insurance. But this bill does not seem to work, because according to the „Berlin newspaper“ So far, just under 8,000 affected people have taken advantage of this opportunity.

More than 140,000 people have no health insurance
According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), about 140,000 people currently have no health insurance and no other right to health care. However, this is only the official figures - the unrecovered number of unrecovered cases is likely to be even higher, because homeless and so-called „illegal immigrants“ do not appear in the statistics. The central problem: since 2009, there is a general health insurance obligation for anyone who lives and works in Germany - accordingly also for former private insured. But especially many self-employed and start-up entrepreneurs can often afford the high contributions and land by open contributions and Säumniszuschläge quickly in the debt trap.

„Law on the elimination of social overburdening of contribution debts“ should remedy Now, the new in August 2013 came into force „Law on the elimination of social overburdening of contribution debts in statutory health insurance“ It is a prerequisite, however, that those affected become active themselves by the end of the year and submit an informal application to the health insurance company which last insured. But the legislature's plan does not seem to work - because like that „Berlin newspaper“ reported, so far only a few of the uninsured have made use of the offer. Thus, according to a response of the Federal Government to a request of the left-wing fraction until the end of November, a total of just under 8,000 persons returned to health insurance, of which about 5,000 uninsured to public funds and about 2,700 to private insurers.

From 2014, the additional payment of missed contributions will become due again
As the „Berlin newspaper“ The report further states that it is now necessary to examine whether further measures are necessary in order to provide insurance cover for everyone. For uninsured people, there are only a few days left to claim debt relief because the law is limited to the end of the year. From 2014, the additional payment of missed contributions will become due again, however, after 31 December 2013, a reasonable reduction and the remission of default surcharges can be expected. Another innovation is the reduction of the late payment surcharge from five percent to one percent per month (§ 24a para. 1a SGB IV), in addition to the information of „Caritas“ „not yet paid, increased late payment penalties that are not issued according to one of the above-mentioned regulations, [.] retroactively lowered from 5 percent to one percent.“ The difference will be waived, for this only an informal application to the health insurance must be made (§ 4 EGBfÜB). (No)