Rürup Commission

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The Rürup Commission named a panel of experts set up by the Federal Government in which the Federal Government was represented by the Federal Minister for Health and Social Security, Ulla Schmidt . The commission was convened on November 21, 2002 and ended its work when the Rürup report was handed over to Ulla Schmidt on August 28, 2003 in Berlin.

It is named after the economist Bert Rürup , who also acted as chairman of the commission. Officially, the panel of experts was called the Commission for Sustainability in Financing Social Security Systems . She sat down u. a. composed of university professors, employers and trade union representatives.

Attendees

The participants in the commission were:

The commission developed measures which the social security , in particular the pension , health and long-term care insurance , financed in the long term , taking into account the fairness of the generations and thus made future-proof. The report is the technical basis for further future reforms of the social security. The measures recommended by the Commission are currently in the political discussion and are being discussed and published in the media.

report

In the so-called Rürup report, various measures to stabilize social security are developed and proposed. This applies to pension insurance , health insurance and long-term care insurance .

Pension insurance

For pension insurance, the Commission proposes the following measures:

  1. Preservation of the previous system of pay-as-you-go financing
  2. Raising the statutory retirement age from 65 to 67 years
  3. Supplement to the pension formula with the so-called sustainability factor . The aim is to stabilize pension contributions at a maximum of 22% of an employee's gross wage (2008: 19.9%).

Health insurance

In health insurance, strengthening the income side and stabilizing / reducing the expenditure side are discussed. Depending on the assessment of the political urgency of near and long-range effects, some experts make suggestions more for the income side (Rürup, Lauterbach) and others more for the expenditure side (Raffelhüschen). To stabilize the income side, the Commission has looked at two models:

Citizen Insurance

When Bürgerversicherung it goes with the core to the retention of the existing solidarity system

a) Extension to previously not included groups
(Civil servants, self-employed, privately insured ...)
b) Extension of the determination of contributions to other types of income (capital income, ...) and for this purpose an increase in the assessment limit (taking into account an allowance on interest income). The contributions increase constantly with the income until a maximum insurance contribution of € 5,100 / year results. From then on they remain constant.

Objectives : Lowering the contributions of the statutory health insurances through more contributors and higher / more correct contributions for people who were previously able to withdraw part of their income from the solidarity contribution and at the same time lowering ancillary wage costs. Retention of state instruments to limit expenditure by health insurance companies.

Head lump sum

The health premium is about the same health insurance contribution for all adults, including children (Rürup now: halved rate for children).

Starting point: If the total costs of health insurance are converted to all adults in Germany, the average costs are currently € 210 / month. Those who currently pay more would be relieved (the "higher earners"), whoever currently pays less would be charged (the "low earners").

Suggested solution for social compensation: A maximum of 210 euros / month is paid, but a minimum of 14% (as currently) and the possible difference as a subsidy from tax revenue (→ higher taxes / duties).

Transition: The employer's contribution is added to the gross wage and taxed. From then on, it is up to the parties to the collective bargaining agreement to include health insurance in the considerations on wage negotiations.

Objectives: a) Decoupling the contributions to the statutory health insurance from the wages. As a result: Reduction of non-wage labor costs and positive effects for the labor market. b) No more limitation on the expenditure side. Transition to minimum benefits (currently € 210 / month) and additional benefits to an additional contribution. As a result: Strengthening the "growth forces" in the healthcare sector.

care insurance

The Commission proposes the following measures for long-term care insurance:

  1. The aim is to distribute the burden equally across all generations.
  2. Starting in 2005, the contributions are to be increased annually by the inflation rate and half the real wage increase. This allows long-term consistent performance in nursing.
  3. Today's contribution of 1.7% of the gross wage is to be used with 1.2% as before for current expenses of those now in need of care. 0.5% should be saved earmarked for one's own care risk in old age.
  4. The patient's self-determination is to be expanded. For this, everyone receives a certain budget from the insurance, which the person to be cared for independently spends on further services for their care.

rating

The impact of the measures will be as follows, according to the Commission:

  1. An increase in non-wage labor costs is no longer possible. Even lowering it is conceivable.
  2. The burdens are distributed more evenly across the generations.
  3. However, there remains a long-term funding gap in these proposals for social security reform. However, this gap is reduced by 50% compared to the current system.
  4. The decision as to which measures should be taken rests with politicians. It has not yet been clarified how quickly politicians can generate the political will that can bring about such a reorganization of institutions that have grown over decades, such as social security .

The very heterogeneous composition of the commission - all political camps were represented, some with significantly different ideas about the future of social security - led to an open dispute between the commission members. In particular during the deliberations on the restructuring of health insurance, the committee members could not agree on a clear line. While union and SPD members voted in favor of citizens' insurance, representatives from business and CDU - including SPD member Bert Rürup and the majority of the economists represented - voted for the flat-rate health premium model. The dispute was carried out openly through the media.

The proposal of the sustainability factor, which has meanwhile been implemented in the "Act to secure the sustainable financial basis of the statutory pension insurance", on the other hand, is a major step towards ensuring the sustainability and maintenance of the pension system in the future.

Nevertheless, the work of the commission was not rated as successful as the work of the Hartz commission in August 2002.

Links to related topics

For reforms that have already been carried out on the labor market, see also the Hartz concept . The opposition at the time carried out the Herzog commission parallel to the Rürup commission .

Web links