Enlarge image
Thuringian CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt wants a "vaccination solos"
Photo: Martin Schutt / dpa
The health insurance companies are missing billions in the corona crisis.
The state has to inject more and more money in order to keep the insurance contributions stable.
In order to increase the proportion of people vaccinated against the disease, Thuringia's CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt nevertheless suggests reducing the contributions for those who have been vaccinated.
He had a kind of “vaccination solos” in mind, said Voigt.
"Those who get vaccinated receive a discount on their health insurance contribution." Voigt advocated lowering the health insurance contribution rate for vaccinated people by 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points.
This would benefit all those who have been vaccinated, not just those who have only now decided to vaccinate.
"This means that no one who was vaccinated at an early stage can find it unfair if the vaccinators are now lured with gratuities," said Voigt.
"We want to reward those willing to vaccinate, not punish the skeptics."
The cost should be around 5.3 billion euros
Even if his proposal could be financed by an even larger state subsidy to the health insurers, the demand for different amounts of contributions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people should initially lead to a heated discussion. Because unlike previous approaches such as the general or industry-specific vaccination requirement, after possibly chargeable corona tests or incentives in the form of bonuses or bratwurst, Voigt's advance raises the individual health status as the benchmark. A similar attempt by his fellow party member Marco Wanderwitz in 2010, according to which overweight people should pay higher contributions, was sharply criticized at the time.
Undeterred by this potential for conflict, Voigt also wants to make unvaccinated privately insured people worse off.
For them, he thinks a private health insurance subsidy of 150 euros is conceivable if they present proof of vaccination.
Insured persons - whether private or statutory - who could not be vaccinated for health reasons or who have recovered should also receive a discount.
Voigt justified his proposal, the implementation of which could be limited to two years, if you decide to have a vaccination not only protect yourself and your fellow human beings, you will also help the health system and reduce the costs that the public finances will incur as a result of the pandemic.
According to preliminary calculations, a reduction in the health insurance contribution by 0.3 percentage points and a subsidy of 150 euros for vaccinated privately insured persons would cost around 5.3 billion euros.
With a premium discount of 0.2 percentage points and a subsidy of 100 euros, it would be around 3.5 billion euros.
According to the example calculations of the Thuringian CDU parliamentary group, the savings per insured person could be between 143 and 72 euros.
apr / dpa
