Warken adjusts the average additional contribution to 2.9 percent.

Berlin. The Federal Ministry of Health has set the average supplementary contribution for the coming year at 2.9 percent. The corresponding announcement was published in the Federal Gazette on Monday, ten days late.

This represents an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the current year. Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) had previously announced the move in an interview with the "Rheinische Post".

Warken declined to comment in the interview on discussions that this was an increase rather than constant additional contributions: "The current average additional contribution of the health insurance funds is simply at this level due to various factors," said the minister.

On November 6, the Bundestag, together with the law on expanding powers and reducing bureaucracy in nursing care, passed a short-term savings package for statutory health insurance amounting to two billion euros.

Stability of supplementary contributions is not expected for most statutory health insurance members in 2026. It is anticipated that most health insurance funds will have to set higher supplementary contributions to replenish their reserves to the legally required minimum of 0.2 months' expenditure.

The promise of stable contribution rates will "dissolve into thin air in just a few weeks," commented Anne-Kathrin Klemm, board member of the BKK umbrella organization. While the federal government has recognized the seriousness of the situation, it lacks "the courage to act," Klemm continued. This is bad "for trust in the important solidarity-based systems and thus for social cohesion."

Meanwhile, Bavaria's Health Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) is urging swift relief for the statutory health insurance system. She described the increase in the average supplementary contribution as an "alarm signal" and advocated, among other things, higher federal subsidies for non-insurance-related services.

In its mid-October forecast, the panel of experts at the Federal Office for Social Security (BAS) estimated the revenues of the health fund for the coming year at 312.3 billion euros.

Experts from the Ministry, the Federal Office for Social Security (BAS), and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) could not agree on the expected expenditures: The health insurance funds anticipate expenditures of €369.5 billion, which is €500 million higher than the Ministry's estimate. However, both estimates resulted in a calculated average supplementary contribution rate of 2.9 percent. (fst)