Berlin (AP) — after ten years a surplus has made the statutory health insurance (GKV) for the first time. Health Minister Ulla Schmidt (SPD) sees a good basis for further fee reductions. The statutory health insurance funds concluded in 2004 with a net profit of four billion euros. The numbers fell from this cheaper than is commonly expected. Within a year, the financial result of the coffers by around seven and a half billion EUR improved. Is the health care reform launched in 2004. “This is a very good result.” «Reform works», Schmidt said. She repeated its call to the health insurance funds, to decrease the contributions quickly. “A surplus of four billion euros is exactly as much as we have predicted. “All the more are the coffers now under an obligation to use all the margins for contribution record reductions and to push this discharge not on the back burner. Similar to expressed the social organization of Germany. The Minister stressed that the surplus the coffers had can mine already the debt accrued by the end of 2003 to the considerable extent. In the West, which was around EUR one billion plus about three billion euros, in the new laender. According to von Schmidt shows up, «that with the health care reform the estimated savings actually achieved by nine and ten billion euro» This denied the Union: it is also because of high unemployment and new output risks «no grounds for euphoria», said the CDU social expert Andreas storm and Annette Widmann-Mauz. So far, more than 30 million insured – and just half – lower contributions have benefited according to the Ministry. The spokesman of the BKK Bundesverband, Florian Lanz, said there would be lower posts “if it is economically viable. For concrete promises it is «too early.» The performance issues of the funds went back to 2003 each Member by 3.3 per cent in comparison, the administrative costs remained the same. Increase of 1.3 percent there in fee-paying revenue. There were significant negative rates in medicinal products, appliances and travelling, in which patients had to pay higher contributions to own. Because of lowest sick leave since the reunification, the cash expenditures for sickness benefit declined significantly further by 8.5 percent. Thus, the companies were relieved by lower it according to the Ministry to about one billion euros.