Press Release No. 22/2010 IG Metall: Healthcare Compromise Spares Employers and Punishes Insured Individuals

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall has rejected the governing coalition’s proposals for reforming health insurance financing as unsuitable from a health policy perspective and unacceptable in terms of income distribution. “Even with this proposal, everything remains the same: The structural problems remain unaddressed, the insured bear the burden, and employers are largely spared,” criticized Hans-Jürgen Urban, executive board member of IG Metall, on Tuesday in Frankfurt. The already unequal distribution of burdens between employers and employees is not being eliminated but rather exacerbated.

Freezing the employer contribution would virtually automatically lead to further cost increases, as employers would lose any incentive to control costs. Under the new model, insured individuals could face an additional burden of more than 1,000 euros per year. “This punishes insured individuals for the fact that policymakers have proven incapable of curbing the financial interests of doctors and the pharmaceutical industry and of solving structural problems,” said Urban.
Although the radical system change is not taking place, there is no reason to let our guard down. Fixing the employer contribution and increasing the supplementary contribution would further undermine the solidarity-based financing of statutory health insurance, the union representative said.

The only sustainable and socially just solution, he argued, is to restore parity and renew solidarity based on the concept of a solidarity-based citizens’ insurance system—with a uniform contribution rate for employers and employees, an increase in the contribution assessment ceiling, and the elimination of the mandatory insurance threshold.