Hospital.Help

Berlin – Privately insured people have to prepare for rising contributions. This is what the Association of Private Health Insurance (PKV Association) writes on its website. The South German newspaper reported first. The insured persons should receive the letters with the new prices in the coming weeks. Most providers adjust the premiums on January 1st, some like DKV on April 1st.

According to the PKV Association, private health insurers regularly check whether their tariffs need to be adjusted in contributions. It turned out that contributions would have to increase for around two thirds of those with private insurance on January 1, 2025.

According to the association, the average adjustment is around 18 percent. Across all those insured by these companies, the average adjustment is around twelve percent. These figures do not include insured persons whose companies adjust their contributions during the year. The South­German newspaper had reported that price increases of more than 30 percent were “not uncommon”.

The PKV Association emphasizes that the reason for the significant increase in contributions is a sharp increase in medical service expenditure. The biggest cost driver is the hospital sector, as hospital stays involve a high proportion of nursing care. The costs of care rose by 37.5 percent per average day of care in the hospital between 2021 and 2023.

Among other things, the sharp increase in standard salaries in nursing and the higher legal minimum requirements for nursing staff had an impact. Caring for a newborn, for example, has become 18 percent more expensive on average.

“In principle, private health insurance service expenditure in this area rose by 13.5 percent in 2023 alone – and this trend will continue in 2024,” says the association. PKV feels the same effects as statutory health insurance.

According to PKV, there are also strong increases in drug spending and outpatient treatment. Despite the sharp rise in care costs, there should be no increase in contributions to nursing care insurance from January 2025. © may/EB/aerzteblatt.de