Care insurance companies warn that the SPD is blocking the care reform

The nursing care funds have asked the SPD not to block the planned nursing care reform. “Not acting would be fatal,” said health insurance association boss Oliver Blatt to the dpa news agency. By the end of the year, nursing care insurance is expected to accumulate a deficit of 4.4 billion euros: "In a few months we will simply run out of money," said Blatt.

The background is the cabinet decision on nursing care reform planned for Wednesday. But without improvements to the reform, the SPD threatens to block it. Specifically, SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch called for changes to the plans of Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU). “The SPD parliamentary group will not go along with a pure cuts package,” Miersch told the Bild newspaper. The necessary structural reforms are missing and that still has to change. Care must be understood as a task for society as a whole. Miersch expects “concrete suggestions” on how privately insured people can make a “fair contribution” to this. The nursing representative Katrin Staffler (CSU), however, accused the SPD of delaying the reform.

Ver.di welcomed the fact that the SPD was taking up the criticism of the plans. Consumer advocate Ramona Pop called for further consultation. The Saarland, however, proposed a cap on the high personal contributions in nursing homes - an idea that comes from the ranks of the SPD: Initially, these should amount to a maximum of 1,500 euros, and then be further reduced through subsidies. In July, the personal contribution for care in the home was an average of 3,364 euros per month.

This article will continue to be updated.