German Healthcare faces Massive Deficits, Deloitte Study Warns
A new study by Deloitteโค projects significant financial challengesโ for Germany’s statutory health โขinsurance (GKV) system. โTheโค consultancy firm’s calculations indicate rapidly growing deficits, even accounting for current government austerity โmeasures. Deloitteโฃ estimates the GKV could face a revenue shortfall of between โขโฌ89 adn โฌ98 billionโค by 2030.
Recent trends already demonstrateโ increasing strain.In the first half of 2023, โคhealth โinsurance expenditures rose by 7.8%,โค exceeding typical growth. Deloitte forecasts that additional contributions from members will likely need to increase by 0.4 percentage โขpoints to 2.9% inโข the coming year to mitigate โคimmediateโ financial pressures. Without this increase, the projected deficit for 2024 would swell to โฌ56 billion.
Looking further ahead,โค the โขlong-term outlook is considerably more concerning. Even with additional savings measures beyond those already outlined in the โฃcurrent coalition agreement, Deloitte projects a potential shortfall โขof โฌ140 to over โฌ300 billion by 2050.
The study attributes these escalating โcosts to two primary factors: a growing and aging population coupled withโ a declining number of working-age contributors, and the increasing expense of medical โcare. Older populations generallyโ require more healthcare services, and advancements in medicine – including innovative but โขcostly treatments like gene and cell therapies, and medications for conditions like nervous diseases and obesity – โขare driving up overall healthcare spending.
Deloitte’s report explores potential solutions to address these challenges. These include internal savings and revenueโ improvements withinโ the healthcare system, andโค also broader policy interventions such as โtaxes on unhealthy foods, increased contributions from individuals, and tax incentives for healthy โlifestyles.