Unanimous agreement on lowering sickness insurance Fund contributions

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The budget of Luxembourg's sickness insurance funds for 1999 boasts a surplus of over LUF 431 million. The social partners thus agreed unanimously in November 1998 to reduce contribution rates to the funds.

In November 1997, as a result of diametrically opposed views among its members, the managing body of Luxembourg's Union of Sickness Funds (Union des Caisses de Maladies), which are responsible for sickness insurance, was unable to reach agreement on how to correct the funds' deficit (LU9711129F) This "quadripartite" body is made up of representatives of the government, employers' associations, trade unions and service providers (hospital services and doctors). It was subsequently decided in December 1997 to raise employers' and employees' contributions to the funds, despite strong opposition from the government and from employers' associations (LU9712135N).

However, at the Union of Sickness Funds' general assembly held on 10 November 1998, there was unanimous support for adopting the 1999 budget, which foresees a surplus of over LUF 431 million assigned to statutory reserves. The social partners thus simultaneously agreed to reduce sickness insurance contribution rates: the total contributon falls from 5.05% to 4.67% of pay in respect of blue-collar workers, and from 2.70% to 2.69% in respect of white-collar workers in the private sector.