PRESS STATEMENT An Unbearable Burden on Workers

"Even in 2026, workers will have to pay more for their health insurance without receiving better benefits in return. This is unacceptable.

Our healthcare system needs secure, fair, and sustainable financing. This includes funding services for the whole of society through tax revenues. It is therefore right that many health insurance funds are now taking legal action.

Eliminating a two-tier healthcare system and introducing a universal health insurance system financed by everyone for everyone would be further steps. And serious spending limits are needed. Above all, the profit-driven nature of the healthcare system is driving up the costs of hospital treatments and medications.

But policymakers continue to delay necessary reforms. Instead, cuts affecting insured individuals are constantly being proposed. This creates uncertainty and ultimately means that people have to cover an ever-larger portion of their healthcare expenses themselves.”

Hans Böckler Foundation Press Release:Health Insurance Plans Spend Up to Nearly One-Fifth of Their Funds on Non-Insurance Benefits—More Tax Funding Needed

Further information and press photos of Hans-Jürgen Urban