After City BKK bankruptcy warning of system collapse

Experts warn about City BKK bankruptcy before system collapse

17/06/2011

The insolvency of City BKK could trigger a domino effect among the health insurance companies, which would lead to the collapse of numerous other statutory health insurance, experts fear in a recent report of the „Wirtschaftswoche“. The chairman of the GKV-Spitzenverband, Doris Pfeiffer, described the situation as „dramatic“ and warned as well as the insurance expert Hans-Peter Schwintowski against the fact that further health insurance bankruptcies would permanently disturb the trust of the insured in the health system.

Experts said even with the introduction of the health fund, the fear that many health insurance companies are threatened by the changes in their existence. The now insolvent City BKK was already called at that time as particularly endangered. Above all, the cost explosion in health care make currently several statutory health insurance to create significantly, so the statement of the GKV-Spitzenverbandes. The health reform, which was still under Federal Health Minister Philipp Rösler (FDP), has not yet brought about the hoped-for savings. So threatened after the bankruptcy of the City BKK other statutory health insurance to be affected. Experts warn of a collapse of the system.

Threatens the collapse of the health insurance system?
The insolvency of City BKK has caused considerable uncertainty in the industry and, according to insurance expert Hans-Peter Schwintowski, could at worst result in the collapse of the entire system via a kind of domino effect. The expert commented on the „Wirtschaftswoche“ very concerned about the current events in the health insurance industry. If no fundamental changes take place, more and more health insurances could be threatened with bankruptcy, Schwintowski explained. The insurance expert therefore pleaded for the introduction of a so-called unit insurance in which all citizens would be insured. In this way, a single universal service would be ensured, which could be supplemented if necessary by private supplementary insurance. However, the expert did not want to comment on the contribution amount in such a unit insurance, but recommended a contribution differentiation depending on the insurance risk. For example, smokers would have to pay higher health insurance contributions, said Schwintowski.

Additional contributions exacerbate the financial problems
The financial distress of the individual statutory health insurance can currently counter these only by collecting additional contributions. But all health insurance companies, which have previously demanded additional contributions from their members, then had to accept massive membership losses, which brought a further aggravation of the situation. Because in the first place young, healthy insured persons have changed. What remains are disproportionately many elderly and sick people. However, these cause more costs than the insurance companies take over the contributions, so that the cost structure of the affected health insurance has worsened and the deficit could not be remedied despite additional contributions. In the case of City BKK, this process had a not inconsiderable share in the insolvency that has occurred. However, since the former City BKK customers now have to stay with the other statutory insurance, the unfavorable cost structure will be at least partially transferred and could trigger the so-called domino effect, which, according to the fears of the experts at worst a complete collapse of the health system would have followed. (Fp)

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