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Minister Spahn, Scholz
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
In the coming year, taxpayers will cross-subsidize healthcare at an unprecedented level.
The federal subsidy for statutory health insurance (GKV) is to increase by 12.5 billion to 27 billion euros in 2022.
This emerges from so-called formulation aids of the Federal Ministry of Health for the government factions of the Union and SPD, from which the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" quotes.
The drafting aids should now result in amendments for the Bundestag, including the Infection Protection Act and the Act on the Further Development of Health Care.
Behind the amendments is the intention of Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) to stabilize the additional contribution to statutory health insurance for the coming year in order to comply with the social guarantee.
This promise by the federal government during the Corona crisis provides for the total social security contribution to be limited to a maximum of 40 percent.
Spahn's advances have not been coordinated with the other ministries, which is why it is not yet clear whether Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) will contribute to the financing. In addition to the greatly increased federal subsidy, Spahn's plans provide that all costs incurred in the current year due to the test and vaccination regulations will be fully borne by the federal government. You will be paid from the liquidity reserve of the health fund of the health insurance companies, but will then be reimbursed.
The health insurance companies expect a financial gap of around 17 billion euros for 2022.
They attribute this not only to pandemic costs, but also to expensive reform laws, medical advances and the aging of society.
If the statutory health insurance system were not additionally supported by the taxpayer, the additional contributions to health insurance would have to rise and the social guarantee would be broken.
The federal grant has been around 14.5 billion euros a year since 2017.
In 2020 it was increased by 3.5 billion and in 2021 by five billion.
The increase of 12.5 billion for 2022 would be a record.
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