SPD demands compensation payments from private nursing care insurance

The SPD accuses private nursing care insurance of a “blatant fairness problem” and is demanding compensation payments to the statutory health insurance fund. Which sounds fair, but there is a catch.

The Social Democrats are concerned about justice in the current dispute with the Union over nursing care reform. Your health politician Christos Pantazis even speaks of a “blatant justice problem”.

What he means is pretty easy to explain. There are two nursing care insurance systems in Germany. Most people have statutory health insurance, a smaller proportion have private insurance. Both insurance companies pay if their members need ongoing help in everyday life - for example with washing, dressing, walking or getting their bearings.

But the care cases are distributed very unevenly between both systems. To illustrate the relationship: out of 100 people with statutory health insurance, almost eight need care, and out of 100 people with private insurance, only around four. Statutory nursing care insurance therefore has to pay nursing services for significantly more of its members.

The Social Democrats consider this to be unfair and are therefore demanding that private nursing care insurance – to put it simply – transfer money to the statutory one. According to the SPD, around two billion euros a year could come together.

And of course the statutory nursing care insurance could urgently use this money. According to calculations by the Federal Ministry of Health, next year it will be at least eight billion euros short. The SPD's move is not entirely unreasonable.