Health crisis in Germany: DAK boss warns of collapse of the coffers!

Before the coalition negotiations between the Union and the SPD, Andreas Storm, the head of DAK-Gesundheit, called for a comprehensive collapse of the budget in health policy. He describes the financial situation of statutory health insurance and social long-term care insurance as the worst so far. Storm points out that the financial reserves of the health insurance companies have fallen below the legally required level of 20 percent of a monthly expenditure, even though the contribution rate has risen to a historic high. Some health insurance companies are already in debt.

In order to determine the financial situation of statutory health insurance and social long-term care insurance, Storm proposes a special meeting of the estimators' group. This should also provide forecasts for the next year and an assessment until the end of the electoral period. Storm emphasizes the need for several measures to stabilize finances, including the repayment of Corona funds to the nursing care insurance. He also demands that Health Minister Karl Lauterbach finance health insurance expenses for citizens' benefit recipients, as the underfunding amounts to up to ten billion euros annually.

Rising healthcare costs and financial crisis for health insurance companies

In parallel to Storm's demands, current reports show that healthcare costs in Germany are constantly rising and that statutory health insurance companies are heading for a devastating financial crisis. Experts predict a financing gap of almost 14 billion euros for 2025, which is likely to lead to increased health insurance contributions. Almost 75 million people with statutory health insurance must expect rising contributions because the statutory health insurance reserves have declined sharply.

The Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), the largest health insurance company with 11.7 million insured people, spent an average of 978.12 euros per insured person on hospital treatment last year. These costs increased by 7.9 percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year. Major cost factors are the increasing number of patients and growing personnel expenses. The costs for special treatments rose by almost 50 percent. For 2025, there is a need to increase the additional contribution by 0.8 percentage points to 2.5 percent in order to overcome the financial challenges.

Spending on medicines has also increased, by 2.5 billion euros or 10 percent compared to the previous year. In addition, critics, including the social association VdK, complained about the financing gaps, which should be covered by higher contributions for the insured. The AOK CEO complains that the state is shirking its responsibility because state payments for citizens' benefit recipients only cover a third of health costs.

The Techniker Krankenkasse criticizes the traffic light government's failures and calls for the implementation of the agreements from the coalition agreement. In December, the TK wants to decide how high the additional contributions must be adjusted in the coming year, with the aim of remaining below the average.