German health contributions set to rise this year
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The German statutory health insurance funds have given their clearest indication yet that contribution rates are set to rise by the end of the year. During a meeting with health minister Ulla Schmidt last week, the leading groups of the sickness funds (GKV) informed her that it was an unavoidable consequence of continued political interference. Measures such as the enforced lowering of contribution levels by the government for the jobless, those on income support and pensioners, due to the fall in pension rates all factored in the probable increase.