The obligation to provide information to health insurance companies regarding additional contributions should remain

“Health insurance companies should continue to have to inform their members individually in the future, for example digitally via the health insurance app or in writing.” It's about the trust of the insured in the health insurance companies.

The black-red coalition decided on the regulation that was now to be reversed with the austerity package for health spending. This means that the obligation for statutory health insurance funds to actively inform their members with individual letters when they increase the additional contribution has been removed.

This was justified by reducing bureaucracy and leveraging all savings potential. Previously, the health insurance companies had to print and send millions of letters, which, according to industry estimates, cost between one and two euros per letter.

The consumer advice centers sharply criticized the removal of the information requirement and warned that insured persons could notice increases too late. This would effectively undermine an existing special right of termination. It states that if the additional contribution is increased, the general requirement that you are tied to your current fund for at least twelve months no longer applies. However, you must use the special right by the end of the month in which the increased additional contribution applies for the first time.

The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds considers the possibility of digital means of informing insured persons to be essential. “It is of course good and right for the health insurance companies to inform their insured persons if there is a change in the contribution rate,” said CEO Oliver Blatt of the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday). “What we don’t need, however, are bureaucratic requirements that don’t create any real added value but simply lead to an increase in administrative costs.” Blatt emphasized: “It is crucial for us that we can use digital channels for information.”

Each fund sets the additional contribution for its insured persons based on their financial situation. The average is currently 3.1 percent. The overall contribution that employees and employers share also includes the general rate of 14.6 percent of gross wages.