What’s left of your salary

Predictions for 2026

Contributions to health insurance companies are increasing: This is how much more you pay

All forecasts expect that the contribution rates for health insurance companies will rise again in 2026. Next week the group of estimators will give the real numbers.

Health insurance companies have been warning for months that contribution rates will continue to rise in the coming year, and independent institutions are also presenting increasingly drastic figures. On Friday, the management consultancy Deloitte published a study that assumes record deficits in the next few years.

Last year, the appraiser group set the contribution rate at 2.5 percent. In reality, however, according to experts, it is already higher. The “Finanztip” portal estimates that the average additional contribution has already risen to 3.1 percent in autumn 2025.

While that doesn’t sound like much, it can have a significant impact on employees’ take-home pay. An increase in the additional contribution of 0.6 percent means that a person with a gross salary of 4,000 euros has to pay 12 euros more per month. That’s 144 euros less per year that this person has at their disposal.

Deloitte assumes that the additional contributions from health insurance companies could rise to 2.9 percent in 2026, while the experts from the IGES Institute speak of 3.3 percent. The Association of Replacement Funds expects an increase to 3.0 percent. For different salary classes this would mean the following additional costs per month:

Note: The amounts shown here must be divided by two for employees, as one half is borne by the employer.

The federal government has announced that it will ensure that health insurance contributions do not rise any further in 2026. So far, no measures are known as to how this should happen. In order to ensure the financial situation of the health insurance companies, a commission of experts is to develop proposals that will be presented in the spring.