So far, only a few civil servants are in the statutory health insurance system. This is going to change. The DGB welcomes the project.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - The DGB sees the planned facilitation for civil servants to be able to insure themselves more easily with a statutory health insurance company as a contribution to making the state more attractive as an employer. The deputy head of the German trade union federation in the southwest, Maren Diebel-Ebers, said in Stuttgart that this would make public service more interesting for career changers who did not have the opportunity to insure themselves privately. "The offer is also attractive for young teachers who become civil servants after their traineeship. In future they can decide where they want to take out insurance - without having to face any financial disadvantages."
The background is as follows: From January there should be a flat-rate allowance for civil servants. The green-black coalition has agreed to introduce them as an alternative to individual health insurance subsidies. The state parliament will discuss the corresponding draft law on December 21st. So far, the state has not paid any employer contributions to statutory health insurance for civil servants. This means that civil servants who are voluntarily insured by law have to shoulder all the contributions themselves. In the future, the state will take over this share. Baden-Württemberg thus becomes the sixth federal state to participate in the financing of the statutory health insurance funds.
The DGB vice-president said that the flat-rate aid closes a gap in justice. "Around 4,400 people benefit from it, both active civil servants and pensioners. Until now, they had to pay their health insurance contributions alone." For people with previous illnesses and disabilities, private health insurance is also quite expensive or not an option at all. "The majority of civil servants remain privately insured because employees can only choose their health insurance at the beginning of their civil service career."
According to the information, the country expects additional expenditure of 13.8 million euros a year. However, according to the estimate, this sum will increase by around 3 million euros annually. The question is for which officials the statutory health insurance would be attractive. Contrary to statutory health insurance, the contributions for private health insurance are not based on income but on the age at which you joined and your state of health. Above all, civil servants with low and middle incomes and part-time civil servants would be burdened above average.
According to union information, the country employs almost 191,000 civil servants.
