Since the beginning of the year, numerous small self-employed people with voluntary health insurance have been reporting to the consumer advice centers who have received unusually high additional premium demands for 2019 from their health insurance companies. Those affected should pay the maximum contribution of around 900 euros per month because they did not submit the tax assessment for 2019 within a three-year period. In these cases, the tax assessment is the basis for calculating the amount of the contribution. If those affected subsequently submit the tax assessments, the health insurance companies will continue to insist on their demands. The Bavarian consumer advice center considers this approach to be completely excessive and illegal.
Additional demands of up to 8,000 euros
Affected are freelancers such as podiatrists, hairdressers or kiosk owners, who often only have low incomes. The consequences are massive: In these cases, insured persons are confronted with additional claims of up to 8,000 euros. Instead of using real income to calculate contributions, statutory health insurance companies charge the maximum contribution. “In fact, those affected are paying contributions on income that they did not have at all. In some cases, the health insurance contribution is higher than the members’ monthly income,” criticizes Sascha Straub, head of the financial services department at the Bavarian Consumer Center.
The health insurance companies rely on the Social Security Code V. Since 2018, Section 240 Paragraph 4a Sentence 4 has stipulated that those with voluntary statutory insurance have three years to submit their income tax assessment to calculate contributions. If you do not do this, the health insurance company will initially set the maximum contribution. “From our point of view, this does not mean that documents submitted subsequently may be ignored in the objection procedure and that the additional contribution requirement is in fact unchangeable. If new facts become known, an incorrect decision must be corrected,” said Straub. “In social law, correct decisions are more important than deadlines.”
Consumer advice centers: Procedure not covered by law
In the opinion of the consumer advice centers, the regulation does not constitute a punitive rule that allows health insurance companies to charge contributions that are completely independent of income. Such hardships are unlikely to have been intended by the legislature. Otherwise he would have had to explicitly word it that way. “We therefore believe that this approach is not covered by law,” said Straub.
However, both the umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies and the Federal Office for Social Security as the supervisory authority support the actions of the health insurance companies against their members and insist on this completely excessive practice. Even a lawsuit doesn't help those affected: it would take a lot of time for the social courts to make a final decision. Time in which small self-employed people continue to be confronted with absurdly high additional contribution demands and are often overwhelmed. The consumer advice centers are calling on politicians to quickly eliminate this injustice through legal clarification.
Also read: Is Lauterbach planning a heat lockdown in the summer?
Source:
Bavarian consumer advice center
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