It is a popular trick of private health insurers (PKV): They lure new customers with aggressively low tariffs. But within a few years, the health expenditure caused by the customers won in this way increases. Then the insurers increase the premiums significantly.
A second problem: the insurer concludes an older tariff for new business, there are no younger and healthier insured parties to follow. Those who remain are getting older and older together and are causing higher costs. If the tariff is not calculated properly, the prices rise dramatically.
An SZ reader from Erding reports three increases in a row, namely by 25 percent, 21 percent and 19 percent. The absolute contribution that he has to pay is still manageable. “But with further increases at this rate, the insurance would be priceless for me in a few years.” A Munich private health insurance customer now has 10.4 percent higher premiums, after eleven percent and 14.6 percent in previous years. It’s “a bit of a shock” for them.
It’s true: on average, prices will only rise by 4.1 percent in 2022. That is what the PKV Association has calculated. But the range is wide. According to the association, three quarters of the 8.7 million members in 2022 will not be affected by increases at all, and a quarter even more.
Realtor Javier Garcia from Bad Oeynhausen knows about shocked insured persons. Garcia specializes in changing tariffs; he helps those insured with private health insurance to switch to a different, cheaper tariff after premium increases at their company. For some of his customers, the premium adjustments for 2022 have exceeded the 30 percent mark, adjustments between ten and 20 percent are not uncommon.
All bisex tariffs are now closed
“The figures published by the PKV Association do not even begin to reflect the reality of those with old insurance in closed tariffs, some of whom had to accept several extreme increases in a few years,” criticizes Garcia. He speaks of “window dressing”.
All so-called bisex tariffs are now closed. They were calculated separately according to gender. Since 2013, private health insurance companies have only been allowed to sell gender-neutral unisex tariffs. Closed tariffs don’t necessarily have to be a disadvantage for customers. The decisive factor is the original calculation. “With the unisex tariffs, the need for adjustments will only become apparent much later, when the calculation bases, where one likes to turn a blind eye for sales, turn out to be wrong,” predicts Garcia.
For a large part of the customers looked after by Sven Hennig from Bergen auf Rügen, the premium increases for 2022 were “very moderate” https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/. “But that does not mean that we do not also have serious adjustments”, emphasizes the insurance broker who focuses on private health insurance.
It is not about individual cases, says a broker
Hennig thinks that looking at the percentage changes is wrong. “Rewards increase in euro amounts.” If customers have taken out a cheap tariff, it is often the case that, even after a substantial increase, they still pay less than insured persons for comparable offers from other companies or as members of a statutory health insurance company.
Broker Garcia also knows other cases: older customers who now have to pay 800, 900 euros a month for tariffs that are not particularly powerful. “This is not about individual cases,” he emphasizes. A large number of companies and tariffs are affected.
“There are tariffs that were too cheap from the start, or that are badly calculated,” says Hennig. This can go well for a few years, but at some point the insurers will have to adjust the premiums. In Hennig’s opinion, customers have to say goodbye to the illusion that they get better services with private health insurance than with statutory health insurance, but have to pay less for it. “It never worked and never will.”
If providers promise high performance for little contribution, consumers should pay attention, he advises. The same applies if insurers are significantly below the competition with their premiums.
Anyone who is not satisfied with their tariff has the statutory right to switch to another tariff with the same scope of services with the same company without losing the aging reserves they have saved. On the other hand, what has been saved is wholly or at least partially wasted if the customer looks for another provider.
With companies that have a wide variety of tariffs on offer, it is not easy for customers to find a suitable, inexpensive alternative. Many seek help from professional tariff change advisors. However, you should be careful when making your selection. Some consultants charge a contingency fee of ten to twelve times the monthly savings. The danger is that they bring customers into tariffs with a lower scope of services or very high deductibles for treatment costs – this reduces the premium significantly, and the consultant’s fee is correspondingly higher.
Watch out for the deductible
“When changing tariffs, I should stick to my range of services as much as possible,” recommends broker Garcia. That protects against nasty surprises when you need good insurance cover in the event of illness. Garcia’s fee is six times the savings. When switching to high deductibles, he advises caution: Employees have to pay the deductible alone. A high personal contribution can wipe out a large part of the savings due to the tariff change in the event of illness. In addition, the deductibles are only tax deductible in exceptional cases.