Health crisis: Expenditure moratorium threatens for health insurance companies!

Health crisis: Expenditure moratorium threatens for health insurance companies!

Deutschland - The financial Situation of statutory health insurance (GKV) in Germany is tense. Current considerations of the SHI to introduce an expenditure moratorium should ensure the stability of the health insurers and the protection of contributors. Such a moratorium means a temporary suspension or delay of withdrawals, often with state support, to ensure that the health insurers do not spend more than they take. The chairwoman of the GKV top association, Doris Pfeiffer, has called for urgent measures to address the financial problems of statutory long-term care insurance and the SHI. An expenditure moratorium for all performance areas is sought before the summer break in order to create stability as soon as possible.

The social association VDK also provides an alarm mood. His president, Verena Bentele, expresses her concern about the increasing expenditure of statutory health insurance. It calls for responsible action on the part of the doctors, clinics and the pharmaceutical industry. In the meantime, a deficit of 166 million euros in long -term care insurance is expected for 2023, after a loss of 1.5 billion euros in the previous year. The forecast for 2026 provides for a deficit of 3.5 billion euros. In the first quarter of 2025, a deficit of 90 million euros in long -term care insurance was reported.

urgent reforms required

The GKV is under high pressure because it is in a critical financial situation. There are various suggestions to ensure the stabilization of both the SHI and long -term care insurance: an increase in the contribution ceiling and the compulsory insurance limit is discussed, and legal insurance could be introduced for civil servants. In addition, the GKV Spitzenverband demands that the federal government will take over the pension insurance contributions for caring relatives and reimburse the Corona-related expenses of the long-term care insurance funds.

Additional pressure arises from the demographic development that drives health expenditure up. In 2022, health expenditure in Germany amounted to 498 billion euros, which corresponds to 12.8 percent of gross domestic product. 53 percent of the statutory health insurance were eliminated. The increasing inflation rate and the effects of corona pandemic have also led to an increase in the GKV editions. The average additional contribution has doubled from 1.3 percent to 2.9 percent in the past three years.

the look into the future

The expenses of the SHI are strongly shaped by the cost situation. The largest expenditure items are due to hospital treatments (32.1 percent), pharmaceutical supply (17.8 percent) and outpatient medical treatments (16.8 percent). In order to cope with these challenges, it is important that there are no benefits, even if price and honorary increases will have to be oriented towards the income in the future. Otherwise, a high increase in contributions at the turn of the year could be the result.

In the current situation, in which fraudulent gangs are increasingly targeting statutory health and long-term care insurance, the pressure on the health insurers continues to grow. Politicians urgently have to initiate a change of course and develop reform proposals in order to secure the financial stability of statutory health insurance and long -term care insurance in the long term and not to endanger health care. The coalition plans to launch commissions to develop solutions that meet the challenges of the German health system.

The situation is tense for the insured, since private additional insurance is also attracted to attractiveness, since they offer services that go beyond the GKV level, while the statutory health insurers have to try to keep their expenses under control. A complex and dynamic interaction that continues to need a lot of attention.