Politics threatens health insurance companies with consequences

Politics threatens health insurance with severe consequences

14/05/2011

The health insurance City BKK has to close in the summer due to a financial imbalance. The federal government threatens because of the illegal practice of many coffers with sharp sanctions. Nearly 170,000 insured are now looking for a new health insurance. In many cases, inquiries from older members of health insurance companies are rejected. The Barmer GEK calls for the Kassenverbund to more solidarity.

Liability of the cash desk bosses for rejected membership requests
Many health insurance companies take a blockade attitude towards City BKK insured persons. Some cash registers close entire service centers, because allegedly the request flood could not be worked on. The CDU now threatens the cash advices with sharp consequences, if the blockade attitude is not resolved. „Maybe we should take the directors of the direct responsibility for every single case“, admonished the health spokesman for the Union in the German Bundestag, Jens Spahn (CDU). The new federal minister of health Daniel Bahr (FDP) called on Friday the top federation of the legal health insurance (GKV) to exhort the health insurance companies to the observance of the legal regulations. After that, no health insurance company may refuse an application for admission due to the age or health status of a requesting person. However, since a large proportion of City BKK insured persons have already reached retirement age, a corresponding number of senior citizen requests are received by the health insurances. Some health insurance companies now fear for their own membership structure. Most insured people live in Hamburg or in Berlin. The requests in both cities are correspondingly high.

Rejection a solid scandal
The health expert Jens Spahn spoke in this context of a tangible scandal in the health system. In numerous speeches, the health insurance companies would play as a lobby of the insured, and then dispose of the seriously ill. Spahn literally said: „In Sunday speeches they call themselves the lawyer of the patients and during the week they swarm the seriously ill.“

Barmer GEK calls solidarity rescue solution of all health insurance companies
The largest statutory health insurance in Germany, the Barmer GEK, called for a solidary „Rescue solution of all health insurances“. Such a solution should enable those who have not yet found a new health insurance, said the board chairman Holger Langkutsch on Saturday in Berlin. Langkutsch made it clear that at present some health insurance companies are over-frequented by inquiries and therefore fear for their own financial situation. Affected is above all the AOK in Berlin and the Barmer GEK in Hamburg. On Friday, the box office had closed its nine customer centers due to the numerous requests.

Insured persons are rejected with flimsy arguments
Many insured are dismissed with threadbare arguments already on the telephone by the service coworkers. In many cases, fake arguments are mentioned to prevent an application for membership. „Insured persons should nevertheless submit an application to the fund of their choice“, advise consumer representatives. Because an application may not refuse health insurance. Anyone who experiences harassment can complain to the supervisory authority, the Federal Insurance Office in Bonn.

Also, the Federal Association of Health Insurance (GKV) has turned on. Its chairman Doris Pfeiffer said, "All members of City BKK have the right to choose their new health insurance, and I expect every health insurance provider to openly welcome anyone who would like to become a member of it unacceptable. " Next Thursday, the Boards of the individual funds want to debate possible ways out. „The situation that a statutory health insurance is closed and relatively suddenly a large number of insured persons looking for a new health insurance is new“. However, the GKV expects now that the problems initial problems are resolved.

Solidarprinzip must not apply only to individual funds
The Barmer boss Langkutsch criticized his health insurance chief colleagues. The principle of solidarity must not apply only to individual funds. „In the case of the City BKK, it is also important that we come to a fair balance between the coffers and the types of cash.“ In the future, one has to talk more openly about the effects of closures. In the direction of the insured, the Chairman of the Board of Barmer made it clear that anyone who wants to be insured with Barmer GEK can also become a member. (Sb)

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Picture: Andreas Morlok