Health insurance funds create additional contributions

Almost all health insurance companies will make the additional contribution next year

09/12/2011

The DAK began with the announcement to abolish the health insurance and insured equally unpopular additional contribution again. Now, the last funds, which still raise an additional burden, have announced that they will abolish the premium for the time being in the second quarter of 2012 at the latest. At least that reports „Nuremberg News“ and refers to cash registers.

In the course of health care reform, the black-yellow federal government had decided that statutory health insurance compensate financial bottlenecks with so-called additional contributions. Since 2010, the funds can determine the amount of additional contributions themselves. The additional contributions should also promote competition on the cash market. Two health insurance companies have already fallen victim to the race for members and had to close. Because only a minority of the health insurance funds used the additional contribution, the competition was clearly decided on by the health insurance funds, who renounced such funding. Now almost all health insurances want to abolish the additional contributions in the coming year.

According to own reports the BKK Phoenix wants to abolish the additional contribution to the first April 2012. For this purpose, there is already a proposal by the Executive Board. The BKK advita also wants to abolish the additional contribution, as this contribution will be dropped from the second quarter of 2012 onwards. The company health insurance BKK Hoesch wants to decide in a timely manner, whether the additional contribution is only significantly reduced or canceled altogether. The only fund that has yet to make a decision is the BKK Publik. Industry experts, however, assume that here, too, the additional contribution will be abolished.

Deutsche Angestellten Krankenkasse (DAK) and BKK Gesundheit will merge starting next year. After the merger, the additional contribution of formerly € 8 will be canceled. After the merger, the cash register will be „DAK health“ be called. The KKH Alliance and the German BKK also want to take part. Here, too, the surcharge should be eliminated by 2012 at the latest.

If the funds do not come with the allocations of the health fund, additional contributions must be levied by the insured members of the health fund. Due to the good labor market situation and some savings effects, however, the situation of health insurance companies has improved significantly compared to the previous year. In the first nine months of this year, the health insurance companies were able to generate an increase of 3.9 billion euros.

The experiences made so far are bitter. Health insurance companies who made such a contribution suddenly lost thousands of solvent members. They had made use of their special right of termination and sought a new health insurance. Therefore, the health insurances now want to promote competition through an individual service catalog. A spokesman for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV) said: „We want more individual freedom of contribution for each individual health insurance, regardless of whether a percentage or a contribution to the euro is the legal requirement“. Thus, more freedom of choice for investment in new supply concepts can be set.

For the following years, the tide could turn. Some experts assume that by 2015 at the latest all health insurance funds will be dependent on an additional contribution. A study by the German Trade Union Confederation recently predicted an additional contribution of about € 100 per month. This could be a reality in five to ten years. It is already clear that the EU and banking crisis will significantly slow down the economy. This will also get the statutory health insurance time lag. (Sb)

Image: Claudia Hautumm