Contribution increase in health insurance is imminent - you should consider a change

Created: 12/26/2022, 10:00 am

By: Dieter Tannert

The increase in contributions to statutory health insurance is a done deal.

Changing health insurance can sometimes be worthwhile.

Employees and employers share health insurance contributions equally, but only up to a contribution rate of 14.6 percent.

Any additional contributions are borne by the employee alone as an additional contribution.

Due to rising expenditure burdens in health insurance, an increase in the additional contribution will be unavoidable in 2023.

This is 1.3 percent in the current year and will increase to an average of 1.6 percent in 2023 according to an estimate by the Federal Ministry of Health.

This is an expected average value that is not collected by all health insurance companies at this level.

There are also cheaper health insurance companies.

The contributions to statutory health insurance will be increased in the coming year.

© Claudia Nass/Imago

Check health insurance

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, you can switch to another statutory health insurance company if the statutory minimum membership period has been met.

This is currently twelve months.

An exception applies, however, if the additional contribution is increased by the current health insurance company.

Then there is a special right of termination and you can change health insurance immediately without meeting the minimum membership requirements.

A termination is no longer required for this.

The newly selected health insurance company informs the previous health insurance company about the change.

However, there is a notice period of two months during which you remain insured in your previous health insurance.

Check whether there is an increase in the additional contribution

Normally, the health insurance company is legally obliged to point out an increase in the additional contribution.

This year, however, this notification obligation has been suspended.

Since the health insurance companies are already under considerable cost pressure anyway, this is intended to avoid a tendency to switch simply for reasons of the contribution.

It is therefore up to everyone to check for themselves whether and by how much the additional contribution of their own health insurance company will change in 2023.

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Compare health insurance contributions and benefits

A good way to compare the additional contribution of the health insurance companies is, for example, the website of the Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Companies.

There you can see the current additional contributions of the individual health insurance companies.

You should not only look at the costs, but also check what other services health insurance companies offer.

For example, there are differences in the preventive measures offered by health insurance companies.

But accessibility and the number of branches can also be further plus points for the choice of health insurance company.