The statutory health insurance (SHI) funds, and in particular the board of directors of IKK gesund plus with its chairmen Hans-Jürgen Müller and Uwe Runge, complain about the financial uncertainty of the funds, which would have more planning security through an improved financing strategy.
The statutory health insurance generated a deficit of 1.9 million euros in the first half of this year, mainly due to the Corona pandemic. Additional expenditures due to increases in benefits were 6.7 percent.
Criticism has come primarily from the ranks of the SHI about Federal Minister of Health Spahn’s plan to have an additional federal subsidy before the federal election, which was then not implemented. Instead, the still acting Federal Minister of Health stated that how and when the increase will come is still unclear. This statement about the unplannable financial situation of the SHI brought some minds to the boil and therefore also discussions set.
The IKK gesund plus wishes a fast and binding political action, also because the total social tasks of the health insurance companies and their financing would have to be distributed on several shoulders. Contributors and the health insurance funds alone would not be able to handle the increases in service expenditures; this would require a balance of payments. At the MCC Health Insurance Summit 2021, which took place in September, Green Party politician Maria Klein-Schmeink also stood by the SHI and emphasized the urgency of political action.
Source: www.aerzteblatt.de