Health Minister Begins Term with Health Insurance Surplus Despite Rising Expenditures
Obwohl der neue Gesundheitsminister mit einem Überschuss in der Krankenkasse startete, steigen die Dienstausgaben kontinuierlich an. Hauptverantwortlich sind die stark gestiegenen Kosten in der stationären und häuslichen Intensivpflege, ergänzt durch höhere Ausgaben für medizinische Versorgungsleistungen. Die steigenden Personalkosten, besonders im Pflegesektor, werden als Hauptursache für diese Entwicklung benannt.
The new Health Minister entered a field of tension: On the one hand, the health insurance fund recorded a surplus, but on the other hand, service expenditures rose steadily. This cost increase is due to significant growth in key areas such as inpatient and home intensive care, which caused expenditures per insured person to rise, even as revenues also increased.
Several areas are major drivers of these cost increases. In particular, inpatient treatment recorded the largest block increase in costs of 8.8% in the first half of the year. Similarly, costs for home intensive care rose by 9.7%, while medical care services showed a cost increase of 9.3%. Experts point to personnel costs as the main reason for the rising hospital expenditures, with nursing staff being cited as a particularly significant factor.