Berlin. Shortly before a planned cabinet appointment for Health Minister Carsten Linnemann's care reform plans, the SPD spoke out against cuts. There is a lot going on when it comes to care, explained General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf in the evening. “There is a risk of massive cuts, especially for carers, those in need of care, but also their relatives.
But we won’t allow that.” He emphasized: “We do not accept any reduction in services in care.” Klüssendorf called for more relief for nursing home residents and a further restructuring of financing.
In his statement, which was also shared in an Instagram video, the Social Democrat left it open what this means with regard to Linnemann's plans. The CDU minister wants to bring a bill to the black-red cabinet next week that is intended to stabilize the finances of statutory nursing care insurance next year.
If the SPD has its way, “then we want to noticeably relieve the burden on those in need of care in the future,” said Klüssendorf. He referred to the suggestion of a care cap that the Saarland SPD Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger had brought into discussion - i.e. a cap on the personal contribution to the costs of a place in a nursing home.
“We want to prevent people and their families from being financially overwhelmed by the costs of care,” said Klüssendorf. “We also want a fair and solidarity-based system into which everyone pays, or at least a fair financial balance between private and social care insurance.”
Rehlinger had advocated capping the personal contribution for those in need of care at 1,500 euros. According to an evaluation by the Association of Substitute Insurance Funds, as of July 1st, a nationwide average of 3,364 euros per month had to be paid out of one's own pocket in the first year in the home.
The SPD health politician Christos Pantazis was more specific about how the Social Democrats want to use private nursing care insurance: He argued that statutory and private nursing care insurance have different risk structures - and calls for a "cross-system, risk-oriented financial equalization." This is “a concrete minimum requirement for the reorganization of care financing,” explained the health policy spokesman for the Bundestag parliamentary group.
The nursing care reform currently being discussed is about covering the billion-dollar nursing care insurance deficit expected for 2027 and avoiding general premium increases. Details are still unclear. Linnemann said in the Bundestag on Wednesday that he wanted to bring the project to the cabinet next week. "We spend around 74 billion euros a year on nursing care insurance, and we have to save eight billion euros for next year. That shows what a challenge this is."
Linnemann has only been in office since the end of July. His predecessor Nina Warken (CDU) had presented a draft that envisaged curbs on spending and additional revenue and which was met with great criticism. Their goal was to avoid general contribution increases - but consideration was given to slightly increasing the care contribution for childless people to 4.3 percent. The draft stipulated restrictions on free co-insurance for spouses. Requirements for classifications in nursing degrees should become stricter.
According to the draft, savings should be made in the staggered surcharges for home residents, which reduce their own contributions - in the future, higher surcharges should only be paid after a longer period of time in the home than before. Warken had also aimed to reduce pension contributions for caring relatives. Linnemann had already announced that he would avoid this if possible.
The SPD health politician Pantazis admitted that long-term care insurance is under considerable pressure, both financially and structurally. “There is no question that we have to act.” However, people would only support changes in the long term if they could trust that the burden would be distributed fairly.
Linnemann is planning a more comprehensive care reform beyond the current project and has announced that he will set up a commission of experts. “Our care system, as it is now organized, is not future-proof,” the CDU politician recently told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
If it is not fundamentally restructured, it will collapse in the 1930s. Therefore, he will set up a “structural commission”. “The aim is for us to get a structural care reform in the coming year based on their suggestions.”
