The stable health insurance contribution savings plan in the new year is temporarily suspended. The Federal Council summoned the Mediation Committee regarding the law passed in the Bundestag with restrictions on spending on clinics.
The coalition between the EU and the SPD wants to save two billion euros a year in the healthcare system to slow down further increases in health insurance contributions. The majority of the funding – 1.8 billion euros – impacts hospitals. To achieve this, increases in clinic remuneration in 2026 must be limited to actual cost increases. Many health ministers rejected the plan across party lines. Many clinics have been in a difficult financial situation for years.
For millions of insured people, it is currently unclear whether health insurance contributions will remain stable in the new year or will continue to increase. By limiting spending on clinics, Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) wants to reduce pressure for a further increase in additional contributions on January 1 2026.
Warken said summoning a mediation committee was a bad signal for Germany as a business location. The decision casts a shadow over the shared goal of placing mandatory health insurance and overall nursing care insurance on a stable basis to avoid premium increases. Next year’s challenges can only be achieved through joint efforts. “Increasing contributions or tax subsidies cannot be the solution.”
Concerns about permanently weakening hospital finances
Cross-party opposition was clear in the DPR. Baden-Württemberg Health Minister Manfred Lucha (Green Party) complained that savings were being made unilaterally at the expense of hospitals. Hesse Minister Diana Stolz (CDU) warned that cuts in 2026 would set a new baseline for subsequent years. This causes permanent financial weakening. The head of the department in Lower Saxony, Andreas Philippi (SPD) criticized the clinics for not accepting the recently decided inflation adjustment.
The Parliamentary Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Health, Georg Kippels (CDU), called on states to divest mediation committees. Health insurance companies need a clear signal that they can rely on planned measures when setting additional contributions. Warken also had previously warned that if the regulations were called into question, health insurers would no longer factor in the impact of the waivers in budget planning due to be finalized in mid-December.
Green health expert Janosch Dahmen spoke of an “open vote of no confidence” against the minister, whose promises to secure contributions ultimately failed. The mediation committee now introduces additional uncertainty: “The budget has to be planned twice, contracts have to be terminated and renegotiations have to be prepared – because the minister has proposed a package that fails even before it is implemented,” Dahmen told DPA.
The Fund will soon have to establish additional contributions
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has announced that health insurance contributions will not increase from January 1, 2026. Even before the decision in the Federal Council, health insurance companies and the opposition warned of a possible additional increase in contributions in 2026, as many health insurance companies will have to increase reserves to a specified minimum value.
Politicians cannot directly determine stable contributions. The health insurance fund itself will decide on additional contributions for 2026 for insured persons in the next few weeks, depending on their financial situation. The current average rate is 2.9 percent. The overall contribution shared by the employee and employer also includes a general rate of 14.6 percent. If additional contributions increase, members have special rights to termination. It was not until the beginning of 2025 that a strong upward wave occurred.
