Voluntary insurance in a statutory health insurance system financed with lump sum contributions: A comment to a proposal by the German Council of Economic Advisors

In its annual report for 2002/03 the German Council of Economic Advisors proposed financing the statutory health insurance system through lump-sum contributions without at the same time making everyone liable to statutory health insurance. Prof. Matthias Wrede, RWTH Aachen, shows that maintaining the option of voluntary insurance beyond an earnings ceiling in combination with a change in financing would lead to a sharpening of risk separation at the expense of statutory health insurance.