Billions surplus in the health fund

Health Fund: Federal Health Minister Philipp Rösler uses billions in surplus for reserves

09/03/2011

The statutory health insurance funds have concluded a massive deficit overall last year, although the insured paid as much as never before and the health fund recorded a clear surplus at the end of the year.

The health fund, which collects insurance premiums and distributes them to individual health insurers, closed last year with a billion-dollar surplus, while public health insurance had to close a deficit of half a billion euros. The surplus of 4.2 billion euros in the health fund will flow according to the plans of the Federal Minister of Health Philipp Rösler (FDP) entirely in the reserves. An unscheduled discharge of the health insurance companies and / or the insured is not considered, so the message of the Ministry of Health.

Federal Minister of Health does not want to use surplus to reduce contributions
Actually, the Federal Minister of Health would have to use only about three billion euros for the formation of reserves according to the legal requirements, the remaining 1.2 billion euros would be available to relieve the contributors. However, Federal Minister of Health Philipp Rösler (FDP) rejects possible reductions in contributions with the help of the surplus funds and will let the entire amount flow into the reserves, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health. This additional financial cushion will provide for worse economic times, the ministry spokesman continues. Anyway, on the basis of the available financial resources of 1.2 billion euros, only a contribution reduction of 0.1 percent would be possible (from 15.5 percent to 15.4 percent of the gross salary).

Health fund with billions in surplus, health insurance with millions deficit
Although the reserves made are also used to hedge health insurance, the contrast between the health fund's excellent financial situation and the deficit of the statutory health insurance in general raises questions about the system. The individual health insurance companies such as the AOK (about 500 million deficit in 2010) or the Barmer GEK (about 300 million deficit) do not get along with the allocations from the health fund, might be still negligible, since other health insurance companies such as the Techniker Krankenasse (TK) under the same conditions could generate a significant surplus (just under 600 million euros). But the fact that the statutory health insurance had to record a total of 445 million euros, should also give the policy to think. The funds affected by a deficit criticized in the first place that their minus was caused by subsequent corrections to the disease-related financial equalization. Thus, for example, the DAK would have actually generated an operating surplus of 62 million euros with the help of an additional contribution of eight euros in the past year, but this has turned through the subsequent cuts in financial equalization in a financial deficit of 79 million euros.

Deficit of health insurance structural problem?
The fact that statutory health insurance has a significant deficit, despite record contributions and a billions surplus in the Health Fund as a whole, is a structural problem, according to the Health Ministry. Because the health insurance revenues are rising more slowly than their expenses, said the spokesman for the ministry. Thus, the revenue in 2010 only increased by two percent, whereas the expenditure has increased by a good three percent, according to the Ministry. The resulting funding gap will be closed by insurers in future by the levy of additional contributions, explain the ministry spokesman. Already, some health insurance companies levy additional contributions to compensate for the deficit, but as the example of the DAK often shows only limited success. In addition, the collection of additional contributions is usually associated with a significant decline in membership, as currently there are still sufficient statutory health insurance available, which do not make an additional contribution. For example, after the introduction of additional contributions last year, the DAK suffered a loss of members amounting to well over 300,000. For this reason, many health insurers such as the AOK and the Barmer GEK - despite the massive deficit last year - have so far generally rejected the introduction of additional contributions. A wave of additional contributions is not expected in the opinion of the Ministry of Health and the average additional contribution will continue in 2011 „at zero euros“ lie, explained the ministry spokesman.

Reasons of the cost increases at the health insurance companies
The main reasons for the increase in costs mentioned by the Ministry of Health, above all, the benefits in the field of sickness, in which case in addition to the larger number of recipients explicitly the „Increase of protracted mental illness“ is called. In addition, the administrative costs of statutory health insurance last year, at a good six percent overall, increased unusually strong. Here, the obligation to provide retirement provisions for their employees, the sick have significantly increased costs, said the spokesman for the Ministry. In addition, spending on hospital treatment rose by nearly five percent last year, which also contributed to the deficit of statutory health insurance. The costs for outpatient treatment at the doctor, however, have increased only moderately compared to the previous year, the ministry spokesman continued (2.6 percent in 2010 against more than seven percent in 2009). It is positive to judge the cost development of the drugs, which has slowed down significantly. The cost increase rate was only 1.3 percent, which was assessed by the Ministry of Health as the first success signal of the Federal Government Minister of Health Philipp Rösler initiated drug savings package. According to the ministry, spending on medicines even fell in January this year. (Fp)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann