Germany health insurance sickness benefit expenditure
Germany health insurance sickness benefit expenditure stood at 5,905.46 EUR million in Q1 2026, according to Deutsche Bundesbank. It is one of the indicators in the Government finances (quarterly) table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 2000 to Q1 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Government finances (quarterly) table
| Indicator | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | Q4-2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheme, expenditure, total | 93,201.03 | 90,638.41 | 88,016.97 | 87,514.58 | 86,490.03 | 84,126.56 | 81,579.28 | 82,224.16 | 80,253.23 | 78,859.89 | |
| Scheme, expenditure, sickness benefits | 5,905.46 | 5,418.91 | 5,365.41 | 5,315.7 | 5,531.54 | 5,146.83 | 5,133.21 | 5,117.75 | 5,147.82 | 4,808.67 | |
| Scheme, expenditure, medical treatment | 14,920.88 | 14,155.06 | 13,852.72 | 14,052.55 | 13,939.08 | 13,175.08 | 12,953.89 | 12,945.02 | 13,042.14 | 12,414.67 |
Understanding germany health insurance sickness benefit expenditure
Income replacement transfers provided to continuously ill workforce members constitute the sole direct cash benefit issued within the statutory health framework. This disbursement category takes over when employer-mandated continued wage payments expire, substituting a portion of the patient’s regular salary during prolonged recovery. It separates the financial support of convalescing individuals from the direct procurement of medical goods and services, functioning as an economic safety net rather than a clinical transaction. The volume is mechanically linked to the prevailing wage levels of the affected claimants.
Interpreting the path of these cash transfers necessitates a strict year-on-year analytical lens to control for the severe winter cyclicality of prolonged respiratory illnesses. Short-term period-on-period readings are highly vulnerable to localized outbreaks and weather variations that trigger concentrations in prolonged absences. Revisions are generally minor, as the cash transfers are directly administered and tracked by the funds without intermediate billing layers. Forecasters attempting to project these outlays must simultaneously model both epidemiological patterns and broader wage conditions, as the individual payout caps scale dynamically with nationwide income adjustments.
Frequently asked questions
- Are the first six weeks of illness covered under this series?
- The initial phase is typically covered by employer continued pay, with this insurance metric kicking in only after that period ends.
- Does the volume automatically change if fewer people get sick?
- Variations in claimants affect the total, but overall outlays might show a different profile if the smaller pool of claimants happens to possess a higher average assessable income.
- Are maternity leave payments embedded in these sickness benefits?
- Maternity benefits are tracked as separate statutory outlays and are excluded from the purely illness-driven figures recorded here.