PKV Unisex fares hardly cheaper

Unisex rates of private health insurance are hardly cheaper for women

02/09/2012

Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Juliane Kokott, had already pointed out in 2010 that the gender-specific contracts of the private health insurance companies (PKV) violate the principle of equality. Kokott had set the discussion in motion, followed by a ruling at the European Court of Justice in March 2011 and the Federal Ministry of Finance had demanded so-called unisex tariffs following. But the opportunity to create equal tariffs for women and men is lost. Too late, the Ministry had decided to standardize the health insurance rates. The universal rates applicable from December 2012 will therefore apply only to new customers. For existing customers, the new PKV contracts are not changed. The industry pushes the „black Peter“ on politics, since an even distribution is no longer possible.

Uniform PKV tariffs for women and men
At the end of the year, all providers of private health insurance must offer uniform policies for women and men. Already insured go out empty, for them continue to apply the old agreements. This means that the contracts of the approximately nine million insured are currently not converted to universal rates. Compared to the Financial Times Germany (FTD), the board of Debeka Roland Weber said that the decision on this „real“ already fell. Because in order to convert the existing customers to unisex tariffs, all providers would have to have clarity by the end of January at the latest by politicians. The private insurers plainly „ the time ran away“, so Weber.

Federal Ministry of Finance in a long research phase
The Federal Ministry of Finance could not bring itself to find a suitable solution for the implementation of the ECJ ruling. So had a spokeswoman announced that „a final decision for the conversion only for the new business and in addition also for the stock has not yet been made“. However, the ministry made it clear that the old tariffs should not be changed as far as possible and that gender should remain tariff-critical for the stock. One fears that in the „Implementation for the existing stock“ For „individual insured groups premium increases“ would come. A major disadvantage would suffer especially young male private insured, the privately secured with so-called Einsteigertarifen. Affected would be a few million young men, so the ministry spokeswoman.

So far, it was customary in the industry to calculate the tariffs not gender-neutral. In the actuarial calculations included the characteristic woman or man. With the help of further data such as health status, age and occupation, the risk factors were added. Because women, for example, go to the doctor on average more often, usually have a longer life expectancy and get pregnant sooner or later, this also results in higher calculated contributions. The Passive Life Expectancy, which all insurers have so far applied, however, has been overturned by the ECJ and also classified the passage in the EU Gender Equality Directive as unfair.

As a result of the European ruling, providers are now obliged from 21 December 2012 to offer only offers that are valid for women and men alike. For currently privately insured women this judgment means that their previous contract does not change. However, they have the right to change their tariff. This allows customers to switch from their old, usually more expensive, to a new, equivalent one. Experts believe that probably most female old customers make use of this. Industry experts fear that the new offers are under-calculated. Then it could be that in a sub-calculation of the insurer later the rate must again increase sharply to close the financial gap. Weber even calls a number to the FTD: If in the Debeka all women switch to a new Unisextarif, the provider would have to head around 100 million euros from its equity.

The PKV had therefore quickly decided to promote the conversion of the entire stock. Because then the burden would be equally distributed. In 2007, companies have had to adjust their tariffs due to a change in the law. At that time, the cost of pregnancy was shared equally between men and women. According to Weber, the adjustments of all contributions were less than 10 percent.

Young men pay more, women only a little less
But now the proposal of balanced distribution has been rejected by the federal government, so that the industry makes contributions to new customers „with caution“ to calculate. So it is to be assumed that there will be a high proportion of women in the unisex tariffs. "The premiums for unisex fares will therefore be closer to the previous women's tariffs than to an average," Weber told FTD. However, it will follow that, as of the deadline of December 2012, young men will have to pay much higher premiums for their private health insurance than is the case today. Women, on the other hand, will only have to pay a little less, but the drop is much lower than hoped. (Sb)

Also read:
Gender may not determine PKV contributions
Switch to statutory health insurance for private persons easier
Complaints about increase in PKV contributions
Health insurance: What will change in 2012?

Picture: Margot Kessler