Luxembourg's health insurance in acute financial crisis - urgent need for action!

Luxembourg's health insurance in acute financial crisis - urgent need for action!

The financial situation of health insurance in Luxembourg is deteriorating dramatically. How Lesseniel reported, the health insurance company has recorded a deficit of 25.8 million euros for 2024. The forecast for 2025 suggests an even more serious operating deficit of 132.6 million euros. These developments were clearly analyzed during a meeting of the four-party committee in Dudelange, chaired by Health Minister Martine Deprez and Finance Minister Gilles Roth.

The analysis of expenses and income shows a worrying decline in the financial situation since 2020. Current expenses are increasing faster than income, leading to an incessant use of reserves. Experts fear that the 10% reserve requirement could be reached as early as 2027, which would put additional pressure on health insurance. The need for action is urgent, and a catalog of measures to stabilize the situation is due to be presented in autumn 2025.

Record deficits in statutory health insurance companies

In Germany, the financial concerns of statutory health insurance companies are also coming into focus. They will have a record deficit of 6.2 billion euros for 2024. The expenses significantly exceed the income, which amounts to 320.6 billion euros, while the expenses are 326.9 billion euros. Spending on benefits and administrative costs rose by 7.7 percent, while the number of insured people only increased by 0.3 percent Health Insurance Direct.

The deficit in the fourth quarter alone totaled 3.7 billion euros, which corresponds to a dramatic increase of almost 70 percent compared to the first nine months. Compared to the previous year, the deficit has more than doubled; In 2023 it was still 1.9 billion euros.

Development of reserves

The reserves of the statutory health insurance companies have also declined sharply. From 8.4 billion euros at the end of 2023, the reserves fell to just 2.1 billion euros by the end of 2024, which is well below the legal minimum reserve of 0.2 monthly expenses. In addition, health insurance premium rates are increasing to a record level of up to 19.0 percent in order to alleviate the financial bottlenecks.

The alarming figures reveal a critical situation in the health sector. It remains to be seen which solutions will be discussed and implemented for the future, not only in Luxembourg but also in Germany, where the financial stability of statutory health insurance companies is increasingly at risk.