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The German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) has announced the exact figures for the health insurance funds‘ expenditure on services and income for 2020, which were also subject to fluctuations due to corona.
According to these figures, all health insurance funds combined closed with a deficit of 2.65 billion euros. Expenditure on benefits of 262.6 billion euros was offset by revenues of the health insurance funds of about 260 billion euros, which corresponds to 4 percent more than in the previous year 2019. If co-payments are also taken into account, the result is benefit expenditures of 266.8 billion euros, although expenditures fluctuated sharply over the course of the year due to the Corona pandemic.
Broken down by the individual areas of healthcare provision in Germany, the most was spent on hospitals and clinics, at 82.2 billion euros. Hospital costs, however, had a comparatively small increase, rising by 1.3 billion euros (+1.7 percent). However, they also received almost ten billion euros from tax revenues and other compensation payments for beds kept vacant and for increasing the capacity of intensive care beds.
Medical treatments cost the health insurance funds 48.5 billion euros, with an increase of a whopping 7.3 percent, followed by pharmaceuticals with an increase of 5.4 percent to 45.6 billion euros.
Dentists saw their medical treatment costs largely stagnate. Here, an increase of only 0.3 percent was recorded. Expenditure on medical aids amounted to 9.8 billion euros, while remedies cost the SHI system 9.4 billion euros – an increase of 2.3 percent. However, payments from the Health Fund and other compensation payments are not included.
All other expenditures for health care, travel costs, vaccinations, etc. were less than eight billion euros each for 2020. However, the BMG concludes that the development of health insurance fund balances was not to the detriment of employers and contributors, because stable contributions are the goal of Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn, also due to the pandemic. The additional federal subsidy and the reduction of financial reserves, of which 16.7 billion euros are still left on the cut-off date at the end of December 2020, are also expected to ensure stability in 2021. The increase in insured persons was also only 0.3 percent.
All health insurance funds, with the exception of the agricultural health insurance fund (LKK), posted deficits of greater or lesser magnitude. The LKK generated a surplus of 58 million euros, while the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkassen (AOK), the example with the highest deficit, on the other hand, brought in a minus of 974 million euros.
In addition, the Health Fund generated a deficit of 3.49 billion euros due to revenue shortfalls and the above-mentioned compensation payments. However, in mid-January 2021 the liquidity reserve still stood at 5.9 billion euros. The reserve shrank by 12.2 billion euros last year because of pandemic-related compensation payments and compensation payments. Of the 12.2, 9.9 billion euros were reimbursed by the federal government.
Despite the current difficult health situation, the BMG sees no reason for concern. The statutory health insurance funds (SHI) will continue to be placed on a stable financing basis in 2021, which was secured with the package of measures introduced by the legislature.
In addition, the additional contribution rate has remained below the expected value of 1.3 percent at an average of 1.28 percent, because 60 of the 102 health insurance funds have kept the contribution stable and two had even lowered it.

Source: Apotheke-Adhoc