Das Nebeneinander von Sozial- und Privatversicherung

Statutory health insurance and substitutional private health insurance are involved in a competition between the systems, primarily because of the income-related contributions charged on the basis of the experience rating system in the former and the risk-oriented premiums charged according to the funding method in the latter. This difference in contribution/premium charging can lead to the selection of insureds at the time of switching, although this is more than compensated for by the fact that private health insurance makes a disproportionately high contribution to financing the health care system, owing to the insurance protection to be guaranteed for life and the absence of the privileges of the social insurance system. This selection would be eliminated and the contribution to financing even greater if, in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity and following the example of the Netherlands, the group of persons with an income in excess of the compulsory insurance income ceiling were to be compulsorily assigned to the private insurance system. This competition between the systems is mutually beneficial, in terms of both the quality of health care services and the social elements of the protection — in old age, for example. However, convergence effects also arise from the competition between the systems, as indicated by the adoption of principles of private health insurance by the statutory health insurance system — from deductibles to reimbursement of expenses — and of elements of statutory health insurance by the private health insurance system which has introduced premium ceilings and elements of experience rating and financial equalisation. The dynamic German health insurance system is ready and able to face the future. The weakness of the statutory health insurance system with regard to provision for old age contrasts with the advantage that it is better equipped to cope with cost increases thanks to the support received from the legislature. European developments will be of particular importance in this context. Uniform regulation of the health care systems throughout Europe is unlikely for constitutional～ political and cultural reasons. However, location-based reasons will lead probably to changes in national regulations with the aim of improving efficiency. The chances of the system financed by premiums will essentially be dependent on avoiding state financing of any kind. If the currency union becomes a cradle of stability, the temptation to do so will be less and premium-financed arrangements will prove to be superior, particularly if they contain such dynamic elements as the structured health insurance system of the Federal Republic of Germany.     

Die Kapitalverzinsung in der Kollektiven Risikotheorie

Vorbemerkung: Die Arbeit gliedert sich in zwei Teile. Im ersten Teil werden spezielle Markov Prozesse behandelt. Im zweiten Teil werden die Ergebnisse auf die Kollektive Risikotheorie angewendet. Die Ergebnisse des ersten Teiles, die einen Spezialfall allgemeinerer Untersuchungen darstellen, werden der Kürze halber ohne Beweis angegeben.     

Die Deckungsvorsorge der Versicherungsvermittler nach der EU-Versicherungsvermittlungs-Richtlinie

Insurance intermediaries being obliged to be registrated in Germany due to the directive have to comply with severe provisions concerning cover provisions (i. e. Deckungsvorsorge). A third-party liability insurance is virtually compulsory for insurance brokers and insurance agents charged by several insurance companies (i. e. Mehrfach-Agent), other kinds of equal alternatives for them do not exist practically. Concerning exclusively charged insurance agents (i. e. Ausschließlichkeits-Agenten), as well as in a side job, an indemnity clause of their insurance company giving the third party full rights may be a an alternative complying with the directive. The minimum covering funds being prescribed by the directive of € 1 million per event of damage and the minimum annual covering sum of € 1.5 million are appropriate to third party liability risks of an average insurance broker on the German market, for almost all of the insurance agents on this market without a permitted covering provisions, with regard to their very little third party liability risks, they are too high. Nevertheless, the German legislator is not entitled to deviate from them to lower sums for lack of an authorization rule in the directive. German legislator should transform the rules of the directive into national ones as soon as possible in favour of the interests of the consumers worthy of protection, using the existing national regulations on lawyers, notary publics, tax consultants and accountants concerning minimum contents of compulsory cover provisions and agreed exclusive clauses.     

Die Gesundheitsausgaben in der letzten Lebensphase

The expenditures for healthcare in the last year of life fall with the age at death. According to this observation, the increase of the life expectancy should lead to a decrease of health expenditures. The available empirical data allows to verify this thesis. In the data, I find that the expenditures fall with the age at death at the same date. But, this does not lead to a decrease in healthcare expenditures as time goes by, because the declining effect of a growing live expectancy is much smaller than the increase of healthcare expenditures in every age at death.