Sickness notifications likely to reach record high
The coronavirus has been doing the rounds again for a few weeks now, before which the number of infections had almost come to a standstill. Despite this, the major health insurance companies are recording almost as many sick days as at the height of the pandemic, some even more.
According to a report in the "Rheinische Post" newspaper, Germany is heading for record numbers of sick days this year. The newspaper is based on data from the major health insurance companies. "Based on our analysis, we assume that in 2023, for the first time in many years, we will have significantly more than 20 days of absence per employee per year," DAK board member Andras Storm told the newspaper.
According to DAK-Gesundheit, the sickness rate in the third quarter was 5 percent, above the already very high level of 4.7 percent in the same period last year. On average, each DAK-insured employee had almost five days of absence in the quarter, although there was no summer flu wave and the corona infection rate had almost come to a standstill.
According to the report, the other health insurance funds with the largest number of members in the country also recently recorded high sickness rates among their insured members. "Our evaluations show that the sickness rate among employees insured by Techniker Krankenkasse was above average in the first ten months of the year. Although it is below the previous year's figure for the same period, it is at a similarly high level - significantly higher than before coronavirus," said Jens Baas, CEO of Techniker Krankenkasse, to the Rheinische Post newspaper. Most days of absence were due to colds such as flu, flu-like infections or bronchitis, followed by psychological diagnoses and musculoskeletal illnesses such as back pain.
According to the media report, Barmer has also recently recorded an increase in sick leave. In the first ten months of 2023, around six million insured persons entitled to sick pay were on sick leave at least once. "This corresponds to an increase of around ten percent compared to the same period in the previous year," the health insurance company said. However, one of the reasons for the increase in reports of incapacity to work is the introduction of the electronic reporting procedure, which provides a more accurate picture of actual sickness rates.
Health insurance companies, such as DAK-Gesundheit and Techniker Krankenkasse, are currently experiencing high sickness rates among their members due to coronaviruses. This is evident in the increased number of sick days recorded by these companies, some even surpassing the levels seen during the height of the pandemic.
Source: www.ntv.de
