Health insurance companies are becoming more expensive: When is the change worthwhile?
Created: 1/11/2023 2:44 p.m
By: Kilian Bäuml
The contributions of many health insurance companies, such as the AOK, are increasing again.
For insured persons, this can result in hundreds of euros in additional costs per year: an overview.
Frankfurt – This year the contributions of the statutory health insurance companies will rise to a record level.
Each fund decides for itself whether and how much it increases the contributions.
Around half of the 96 health insurance companies in Germany have planned to increase their contributions or have already increased them, reports the
German Press Agency
.
For more than 40 million insured persons, this means higher costs - including AOK customers, for example.
In addition, for the first time this year, health insurance companies are not obliged to inform their customers about the rising prices by post.
Instead, information on your own website is sufficient.
In particular, the additional contributions are being raised by most health insurance companies, the
contribution
itself remains the same for all statutory health insurance companies, as it is set by law at 14.6 percent.
However, the costs of the health insurance companies cannot be covered by the contribution itself.
In order to fill the billions gap of the health insurance funds, the
additional contributions
are now to be increased for some funds.
The contributions are shared by employers and employees.
This year they are to be increased to an average of around 1.5 percent.
For many insured persons, this leads to additional costs of several hundred euros over the course of the year.
health insurance | Additional contributions 2023 | increase compared to the previous year |
OK | 1.6 percent (16.2 percent overall) | 0.3 percent |
Barmer | 1.5 percent (16.1 percent overall) | No increase |
DAC | 1.7 percent (16.3 percent overall) | 0.2 percent |
TC | 1.2 percent (15.8 percent overall) | No increase |
Source: Website of the respective health insurance company |
AOK, DAK and Co.: The self-employed can benefit from changing health insurance companies
"How high the additional costs are in the end depends on how much your own health insurance increases the additional contribution," said Dr.
Daniel Güssow, Managing Director of statutory health insurance companies, to Check24.
“Even small premium adjustments can lead to sensitive additional costs for the insured.
The only way to avoid paying higher premiums is to switch to a cheaper health insurance company.
Consumers should definitely consider switching at the moment.”
People with a high income in particular benefit from switching to a cheaper health insurance company.
The higher the income, the greater the savings.
The self-employed also have advantages from a change.
This is because no employer is involved and the additional contribution is fully borne by them.
Accordingly, you can save twice with a cheaper checkout.
More than half of the health insurance companies plan to increase their prices.
(Iconic image) © K. Schmitt/Imago
AOK, DAK and Co.: Termination, special right of termination and change if the health insurance company becomes more expensive
If the health insurance company has increased their contributions on January 1st, the insured have a special right of termination until January 31st.
But even without the special right of termination, you can change health insurance after a period of 12 months.
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If you find a cheaper offer, you can now switch health insurance companies online.
As a rule, statutory health insurance companies are not allowed to refuse customers, because this is prohibited by law.
There is therefore no risk of switching for insured persons.
The new one will also take over the deregistration from the previous health insurance company.
The classic period for terminating health insurance is at least two months.
During this time, the increased costs must also be paid.
(kiba/dpa)