The Bundesgesundheitsministerium announced on Tuesday that the 2025 spending of statutory health insurance funds rose far more sharply than their contribution income. Expenditures grew by 7.8 percent, while contribution revenue increased by about 5.3 percent. This widening gap is pushing the insurers to raise their supplemental contribution rates.
At the start of 2025, the 93 statutory health insurance funds had already increased their additional contribution rates considerably. Despite generating a surplus of €3.5 billion last year, the funds used most of that surplus to refill reserve funds back to the statutory minimum level. By the end of 2025, total reserves were approximately €5.1 billion, representing only 0.18 months of spending – still below the legally required 0.2 months of reserves.
Minister Nina Warken (CDU) underscored the difficult position of Germany’s public health system, noting that since 2024 expenses have been rising much faster than revenues, and that this trend is expected to continue. While a fiscal package managed to stabilize the finances in 2026, deficits in the double‑digit billions are projected to emerge from 2027 onward. She called on all healthcare stakeholders to cooperate in order to sustainably stabilize contribution rates.
Concretely, statutory insurers collected €355.9 billion in contributions and spent €352.4 billion in 2025. The average supplemental contribution rate at the end of December was 2.94 percent, well above the 2.5 percent rate announced for 2025 to cover expenses. Several insurers had to hike additional contributions to rebuild their financial buffers.
