CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann advocates for eliminating the majority of the currently existing 93 statutory health insurance funds. Speaking to RTL and ntv, Linnemann stated that “ten health insurance funds across Germany will suffice”. He argued that many of the current funds typically offer the same services, which results in significant administrative overhead. He stated, “When I see billions being spent for nothing because there is no competition, then we have to address that, which is why over 90 health insurance funds is too many”. The CDU General Secretary suggested that smaller funds, in particular, should be phased out, proposing thresholds of around 200,000 or 250,000 insured members as a standard.
Linnemann also characterized Germany’s healthcare system as expensive and inefficient. While praising Health Minister Warken for largely incorporating the proposals from the Statutory Health Insurance Commission, he called for savings from reducing the number of funds to go beyond those recommendations. Furthermore, he insisted that insured individuals should no longer have to contribute towards recipients of the Bürgergeld (basic citizen income).
