The federal government sees six billion misused as a waste of money for Corona policy
September 30, 2024, 12:11 a.m. Listen to article
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The federal government could have another item in its pocket for the final budget negotiations: A legal report comes to the conclusion that the state’s Corona policy has made use of contributors’ money and that a repayment of six billion euros is outstanding.
According to a new legal report, the federal government is obliged for constitutional reasons to fully reimburse the long-term care insurance company for the billions in additional costs incurred during the corona pandemic. The financing of corona tests or the payment of care bonuses for employees are tasks for society as a whole that must be carried out using tax revenue, according to the report from the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit, which is available to the editorial network Germany (RND).
It says that the use of contribution money for the Corona measures is an unconstitutional misappropriation. “Access to social security contributions is denied because otherwise social security contributions would be used to finance the general state budget,” argues lawyer Dagmar Felix from the University of Hamburg in the report.
According to the DAK, corona tests, care bonuses and other corona measures have led to additional spending of around 13 billion euros in long-term care insurance. However, the federal government has so far only compensated for part of these expenses. According to DAK and other funds, around six billion euros are still outstanding.
Without reimbursement, there is a risk of premium increases
The question of full compensation is particularly important because long-term care insurance is deeply in the red. According to health insurance companies’ estimates, an increase in the contribution rate of at least 0.2 percentage points will be necessary at the beginning of 2025.
According to DAK CEO Andreas Storm, this increase could be prevented if the federal government fully reimbursed the Corona costs. “The result of our legal opinion is clear: During the pandemic there was a misappropriation of contribution money, which must now be corrected in view of the acute financial problems,” he told the RND. “If the necessary financial resources of six billion euros are made available this year, the threatened premium increase at the turn of the year can be avoided for those insured,” he warned. The traffic light government wants to adopt its budget for 2025 by mid-November.
