Care reform: Government postpones setting up a commission

The Federal Cabinet has postponed the establishment of the second commission to reform nursing care insurance. The committee will not be set up until next week, said the parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, in Berlin.

SPD wants to have care covers checked

Federal Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU) announced the commission would be set up this Wednesday. The committee should provide suggestions by the end of January on how social long-term care insurance can be stable for the 2030s, Linnemann said last week.

Wiese pointed out that there are still discussions about the personnel composition of the commission. He also emphasized that the SPD insists that a so-called care cap for the costs in nursing homes as well as a risk structure compensation from private to statutory nursing care insurance must also be examined by the commission.

The black-red coalition agreed last week to split the nursing care insurance reform. In a first step, measures were decided to prevent an increase in nursing care insurance contributions for those with statutory health insurance. The new commission should then make suggestions for structural changes.

Good experiences with commissions

The federal government points out that, unlike the federal and state working group on care, they have had good experiences with commissions on pensions and health, for example. One reason is that both scientists and politicians sit on the commissions.