German Health Funds

It is far too early to think of reducing health insurance premiums in Germany, according to Eckard Fiedler, the head of the supplementary funds, the EK. He noted that in the first nine months of 1994, EK fund spending had risen by 6.1% against a rise of only 2.4% in basic wage rates on which fund income is dependent.

Moreover, new burdens faced the health funds in the form of the planned 10% increase in fees for out-patient operations, he said, adding that the effect of the "dramatic increase" in the number of panel doctors to around 10,000 was "incalculable," along with the end of the moratorium on drug price rises due end-1995.