title: [Determinants of income and expenditure development in the annual reports of the health insurance of the Federal Republic of Germany].
abstract: Contribution rates to the German statutory health insurance differ considerably between different sickness funds. While insurance benefits are largely standardized, these differences are widely regarded as a problem for the state's social policy. The health insurance bodies often offer hasty interpretations to justify the differences of contribution rates. These interpretations, however, cannot be checked on the basis of data from the annual reports of the health insurance. In reality, there is a number of determinants of the contribution rate which lie as well inside as outside the sphere of influence of the health insurance bodies. In order to estimate the respective impact of single determinants it is important to differentiate the health expenditures by age and sex of all insured persons (both the contribution paying members and their co-insured dependents). A further disentanglement of health expenditures into prices, quantities and structural components allows to identify the reasons of increases in health costs. This is also a necessary precondition for creating and implementing suitable measures that are directed to control health costs. At the same time, the improved information system of the statutory health insurance would contribute to a better understanding of the performance of the health system in general.
authors.affiliation: IGES-Institut für Gesundheits- und Sozialforschung, Berlin (West).
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jacobs
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D003363:Cost Control; D005249:Fees and Charges; D005260:Female; D005860:Germany, West; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D007342:Insurance Benefits; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D011640:Public Policy
vernacular_title: Determinanten der Einnahmen- und Ausgabenentwicklung in den Jahresberichten der Krankenkassen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.