Health insurance companies are losing at least 170 million euros due to bad investments

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Accessed: July 17, 2026 • 6:13 am.

According to research NDR, DDR and SZ, at least 17 health insurance companies and associations of statutory health insurance doctors invested in dubious real estate funds – and thus suffered losses of millions. But how could this happen?

Markus Grill, NDR/WDR and Niels Heck

The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians of Baden-Württemberg distributes money from those with statutory health insurance to doctors in the southwest of the republic. It receives about five billion euros a year from health insurance companies.

But since not all money always has to be spent immediately, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) is allowed to invest money on the financial market. However, as conservatively as possible and with a low level of risk – so that “losing seems impossible.” This is stated in Book IV of the Social Insurance Code, which HCs and health insurance companies must adhere to.

More than 96 percent of investment money is lost

But things must have gone very wrong at HF ​​Baden-Württemberg. Because she is currently suing, among others, the private bank Hauck Aufhäuser Lamp in the Frankfurt District Court. In the lawsuit, she accuses the financial companies of “intentionally misleading her” about a risk they clearly deny in their response.

According to the lawsuit, KV Baden-Württemberg (KVBW) invested a total of 50 million euros in Verius real estate funds between 2019 and 2022 through a special financial product. According to the lawsuit, those investments have now “evaporated into thin air”: “96.3 percent of the investment money invested” was lost.

But did the responsible board of directors conduct independent due diligence on the investment? KVBW does not want to answer this question. In their response to the court, the fund recipients said that the health insurance and HC companies received “more than 7 percent” interest per year. KVBW also did not want to answer the question of whether investments with such high interest rates are truly risk-free. She answers detailed questions with only one sentence: “KVBW does not comment on its financial investments at all.”

The scale is larger than previously known

Unsuccessful investments in Verius funds have been causing a stir in the boardrooms of health insurance companies and KVs for several weeks now. Just a few days ago, the newspaper Handelsblatt reported on six health insurance and KV companies that lost money due to Verius funds.

But according to research NDR, DDR and the Süddeutscher Zeitung is significantly larger than previously thought. Invested not only Kaufmännische Krankenkasse KKH (47.4 million), Pronova BKK (10 million) and BKK Gildemeister Seidensticker (7.9 million), as follows from the lawsuits, but also Novitas BKK, MKK Meine Krankenkasse (5 million each) and IKK Südwest 2 million euros each, as indicated opposite. NDR, DDR and the Süddeutscher Zeitung acknowledge.

Health insurance companies AOK Bremen, Bahn BKK, BKK Pfalz, Siemens BKK and Viactiv also invested. However, none of these health insurance companies are willing to say how much money is involved.

Big losses too compulsory health insurance associations

Among the statutory health insurance companies, in addition to KVBW, KV Hessen also invested 30 million euros and KV Schleswig-Holstein 16 million – money that KV Schleswig-Holstein considers a “total loss”. When asked, KV Berlin, KV Bremen and KV Westfalen-Lippe (KVWL) also refused to disclose the amounts they had invested. Taken together, the confirmed losses amount to more than 170 million euros.

From financial company circles, we have learned that a total of 28 health insurance companies and KVs are reported to have invested money in Verius funds through workarounds, and that the amount of bad investments will amount to more than 500 million euros.

KVVL is a special case, which also makes it clear why the topic is currently extremely unpleasant for management. KVWL has now separated from the board of directors responsible for the investment and is suing it for damages. This is confirmed by the District Court of Dortmund. NDR, DDR and the Süddeutscher Zeitung that the KVWL accuses him of violating internal investment rules and demands millions of euros from him.

An attorney for the former board of directors left a request for comment unanswered.

Health insurance companies sue

In addition to KVBW and KV Hessen, the health insurance companies KKH, BKK Gildemeister Seidensticker and Pronova BKK also filed a lawsuit in the Frankfurt district court. They are all represented by Munich law firm Hogan Lovells. Litigation, etc. NDR, DDR and SZ are formulated in much the same way. The lawyer refers to “personal meetings” and “various telephone conferences” during which the insurance companies and ICs were assured that the investments were safe and complied with the investment standards of the Social Security Code.

None of the financial institutions involved “at any time informed the health insurance companies and KVs of the actual circumstances” of the investment. When asked NDR, DDR and S.Z. asked the plaintiff’s representatives whether specific false information was provided in the investment documents. A lawyer for the health insurance companies and KV responded: “The investment documents presented gave the impression that this was a safe and conservative investment.”

Hauck Aufhäuser Fund Services SA, also a defendant, categorically denies the charge of deception. They do not want to comment on possible individual cases. In general, however, it should be emphasized that “investments in products of the type described are only possible on the basis of prospectuses or contractual documents by which investors have been fully informed in advance of their nature, the risks involved and the existing independent audit obligations.”

Financial analyst considers Verius fund ‘unsuitable’

From the point of view of independent financial analyst Stefan Leupfinger, the financial instruments with which the health insurance companies and KV invested hundreds of millions of euros in the form of contributions to the Verius funds were “definitely not suitable.” If, at a stage when interest rates were low, a product offered the prospect of high returns, “everyone with any knowledge of investing should know that there are risks involved.”

According to budget politician and member of the Bundestag Paula Pichotta (Greens), the case “undermines trust in health insurance companies and their ability to handle money.”

Ultimately, courts will have to figure out whether insurance companies and insurance companies took too much risk or were defrauded, Leipfinger says. A hearing date has already been set at the Frankfurt District Court, but not before December..

Collaboration: Hannah Heck