German wives may lose automatic health insurance:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Green Party could soon examine ways of excluding married women from gaining automatic health insurance because their partners are paying contributions. "Free additional insurance for women, as long as they are not bringing up children or caring for other dependants, should not necessarily be subsidised by contribution payers," said Birgit Bender, health political spokesperson for the Greens said. She told Focus-Informationen that this was only one of the measures currently under consideration by the ministry of health to cut the budget deficit of the statutory health insurance funds. Others include higher contribution rates for higher earners.