In view of their difficult financial situation, the statutory health insurance funds are calling for a spending moratorium. “In other words: no more price or fee increases that exceed current revenues,” said Doris Pfeiffer, Chairwoman of the Board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband), to the Rheinische Post newspaper on Monday. The new Federal Minister of Health, Nina Warken (CDU), must introduce immediate measures in view of the financial difficulties of the health insurance funds.
“Minister Warken has described the statutory health insurance funds as ‘emergency patients’ and she is absolutely right to do so,” said Pfeiffer. “Acute therapy is needed now, otherwise health insurance contributions will go through the roof at the turn of the year,” she continued. Pfeiffer pointed out that in the past three months alone, there had been eight new increases in contribution rates by health insurance companies.
“For the short-term stability of statutory health insurance and to protect contributors, we need a preliminary law before the summer break in which a spending moratorium must be established for all service areas,” the GKV boss therefore demanded. Such an expenditure moratorium would “ensure that contribution rates can remain stable by strictly linking the development of expenditure to the real revenue situation of statutory health insurance”.
This moratorium would have to remain in place until revenue and expenditure have been brought back into balance through suitable structural reforms. Pfeiffer went on to say that it was also necessary “for the medical care of those receiving the citizens' allowance to finally be financed fairly”. This should also be regulated in the preliminary law before the summer break.
She welcomed Warken's initial signals that she wanted to tackle the fundamental problems of the SHI system quickly and in dialog with the self-administration. “We very much welcome this,” said Pfeiffer. The healthcare system needs more cooperation between the many players again.
Left-wing healthcare expert Ates Gürpinar called for the focus to not only be on the expenditure side. Rather, “a reform towards a fairer collection of contributions” would be important, he explained in Berlin. “For example, as an immediate measure, the income threshold for contributions could be raised significantly,” Gürpinar demanded.
He was critical of the health insurance companies' demand for a fee cap. This would also “hit the wrong people, for example physiotherapists or midwives”, warned the left-wing politician. He accused those politically responsible of having delayed a reform of health insurance finances for years.
Misbah Khan, deputy leader of the Greens parliamentary group, described the funding gaps in statutory health insurance as “serious”. She called on the federal government to immediately explain "what short, medium and long-term steps it plans to take to stabilize and sustainably finance health insurance". Khan also warned against ongoing debates about possible additional burdens.
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