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Koblenz (dpa) - According to its own statement, the Debeka insurance group has grown in all areas despite Corona.
CEO Thomas Brahm announced on Tuesday that the company with headquarters in Koblenz had shown itself to be “robust and powerful” in the pandemic year 2020, regardless of further falling interest rates.
At the same time, Debeka defended its significant premium increase at the digital annual press conference at the beginning of 2021.
According to preliminary figures, the premium income of Debeka insurance rose in 2020 compared to the previous year by 3.8 percent to 11.44 billion euros.
"This growth is more than three times as high as that of the industry, which reports 1.2 percent," it said.
Together with its building society, Debeka posted a total of around 14 billion euros in contributions and incoming payments in 2020.
In 2020, the company paid out five billion euros in insurance benefits to members of health insurance - one sixth of the entire industry.
Board member Annabritta Biederbick justified the premium increase of 17.6 percent in full health insurance at the beginning of 2021 with the rising costs of medical progress and the extremely low interest rates.
In relation to the past 20 years, the contributions of long-term Debeka members have not increased more than those of the statutory health insurance.
Debeka would have preferred to spread the premium over several years.
An adjustment of contributions is legally only possible if certain thresholds for insurance benefits are exceeded.
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CEO Brahm emphasized: "Corona has a firm grip on us all."
In the crisis, however, there are also opportunities, for example in digital terms: "In total, we have equipped more than 16,000 employees with laptops in a short time."
According to Debeka, around 95 percent are currently working from home because of the pandemic.
At the end of 2020 the group had 16,487 employees, 151 more than at the end of 2019. The shortage of skilled workers continues to bother it.
According to Brahm, around 100 experts are missing in the IT department alone.
With currently 1,475 trainees and dual students, the company is nevertheless the largest trainer in the German insurance industry.
Debeka, founded in 1905, is a mutual insurance association with a traditionally large number of civil servants among its millions of members.
According to its own information, it is one of the largest German insurance groups and the market leader in private health insurance.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210302-99-656133 / 2