Rigid budgets under the planned care reform could leave those affected unable to pay for necessary help. The VdK social association is calling for improvements to the federal government's planned care reform and warns of additional burdens for family carers. “The fact that the federal government is making access to benefits even more difficult is catastrophic,” VdK president Verena Bentele told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, as reported by “Spiegel” on Sunday. “Family carers need simplification and more support, not less,” she added. “They must not have to care until they are exhausted just so that the financial hole in the care insurance fund can be patched up.”
The reform is intended to stabilise contributions to the care insurance fund. To this end, various benefits are to be bundled and pooled into joint pots. In the VdK president’s view, this schematic division has negative consequences, and not only for those in need of care themselves. “With the rigid division into four pots, the federal government is accepting that people in need of care will have to pay for more benefits out of their own pocket because the matching budget has been used up,” Bentele said.
The restructuring makes it harder for many to access support services tailored to their needs, Bentele continued. Those affected would now be forced to change a care situation that was working and would run up against limits in doing so. “Not every person in need of care can be cared for by a neighbour when the budget for the care service has been used up,” she explained. “And conversely, not every person in need of care needs an expensive care service – but may be forced into one because the budget for the neighbour has been used up.”
To cushion the burdens, the VdK is demanding the repayment of 5.2 billion euros in “corona debts” to the care insurance fund. According to the report, this relates to additional benefits provided by the care insurance funds during the pandemic that were never compensated by the federal government. The social association is also calling for a uniform care insurance scheme into which all citizens pay. “Instead of trying to save by giving people in need of care fewer benefits, the federal government should ensure that the care insurance fund has sufficient resources,” Bentele said. “We need a fresh start to clarify how care is to be financed.”
As Bayerischer Rundfunk already reported on 20 October, the draft bill on the Care Reorganisation Act had been adopted by the federal cabinet on 30 September 2026. Deliberations in the Bundestag and Bundesrat were still pending at that point, and the planned start date was 1 July 2027. Which rules will actually come into force can therefore still change.
