The umbrella association of statutory health insurers (GKV) is campaigning to force the federal government to increase its payments to recipients of the Bürgergeld (basic income). According to a report in the Thursday edition of ”Handelsblatt”, insurers have filed justifications for 79 ongoing lawsuits at the state social courts.
In the medium term the GKV intends to bring the case before the Federal Constitutional Court, where it will challenge whether the federal budget adequately covers the health‑care costs of people who are both insured under the statutory system and receive Bürgergeld.
The insurers argue that the government’s contribution to the health‑fund is too small. Currently they remit a flat monthly amount of just over €100 to Bürgergeld recipients. That figure, they say, does not reflect the true cost of medical care; therefore, employees and employers would be forced to make up the shortfall through their own contributions.
However, the GKV insists that medical care for Bürgergeld recipients is a part of the constitutionally guaranteed minimum subsistence level and thus a matter of state public provision. As a tax‑financed welfare service, responsibility for covering those costs rests with the federal government, according to the association’s documents.