Health: Medical costs in Germany exceed half a trillion euros

Medical costs rose by more than seven percent last year. One cost driver is age – and there are big differences between the sexes.

Illness: More than half of the medical costs fall on the group of people over 65 years of age. Photo: dpa

Berlin. Medical costs in Germany will exceed half a trillion euros in 2024. Overall, the direct costs amounted to 528.5 billion euros, which corresponds to an increase of 7.6 percent compared to the previous year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. Mathematically, each resident incurred costs of 6,330 euros. The figures include expenses for medical treatment, care, prevention and rehabilitation, but do not include indirect consequences such as loss of work.

There are particularly large differences between the genders. The per capita costs for women were 6,960 euros, 22.5 percent higher than for men at 5,680 euros. The statisticians attribute this primarily to the longer life expectancy of women and the associated larger proportion of older and very old people. There are also costs associated with pregnancy and birth. The most expensive illnesses also differ: in women, mental and behavioral disorders such as dementia caused the highest costs, while in men it was cardiovascular diseases.

A decisive cost driver is age. More than half of the total medical costs of 284.3 billion euros were accounted for by the over 65 age group. While the costs for 15 to 29 year olds averaged 2,390 euros, for people over 85 years old they rose to 30,150 euros per person.

Overall, cardiovascular diseases caused the highest costs at 69.4 billion euros, closely followed by mental and behavioral disorders at 68.7 billion euros. Overall, five major disease groups accounted for more than half of the costs. In addition to the cardiovascular diseases and psychological disorders already mentioned, these included diseases of the musculoskeletal system, the digestive system and neoplasms such as cancer. According to statisticians, the share of these five areas in total costs has been largely stable since 2015.

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