That is reported by tagesschau.de. According to Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU), the commission is to present proposals by the end of January on how the care system can be structurally prepared for the 2030s. The body had actually been due to be appointed the previous week; the date had been postponed because of a need for consultation within the coalition, as SWR reported on 1 October and ZDFheute on 7 October.
For family carers, the appointment of the commission is only a sideshow. The focus is on the Care Reorganisation Act (PNOG), whose draft the cabinet already approved on 30 September 2026. It is intended to close the expected funding gap of around eight billion euros for 2027. Among other things, it provides for an increase in the surcharge for the childless of 0.3 percentage points to 0.9 per cent and a rise in the contribution assessment ceiling for long-term care insurance of 300 euros per month. The general contribution rate remains at 3.6 per cent.
What changes for people in need of care and their families
The draft law also provides for changes in the allocation of care levels. According to information from the Allgäuer Zeitung, the threshold values for care levels 1 to 3 are to be raised. Someone who today is classified as care level 2 with 28 total points would, after the reform comes into force, only reach care level 1, explains the portal pflege.de. The social association VdK therefore advises those affected to submit a first application before the law is passed. “The new law has not yet been passed, and the old law applies. People in need of care and their relatives must take advantage of that,” VdK President Verena Bentele told dpa. The draft law provides for protection of existing rights for people already classified as in need of care; what is decisive is the time at which the application is submitted. The VdK emphasises that only people who are actually in need of care should submit an application. For people with care level 1, the previous relief allowance is to be abolished; the new social space budget is only planned from care level 2.
One central point of dispute remains the personal contribution in care. The SPD is demanding a cap that would reduce the monthly personal contribution for a care home place by around 300 euros. Linnemann described such a cap on ZDF as “highly dangerous” because it could create additional financial problems elsewhere. According to SPD health politician Christos Pantazis, his party insists on the proposal. Another SPD proposal, an equalisation between private and statutory insurers, is, according to Linnemann, not to be a topic for the commission.
How family carers are doing today
How great the burden already is is shown by a study by the Centre for Quality in Care (ZQP), which is exclusively available to the Berliner Morgenpost. According to it, relatives report incorrectly or not at all administered medication in the past six months for every second person in need of care; in 19 per cent of cases such problems occurred repeatedly. 36 per cent of respondents state that the person in need of care suffered one or more falls with injuries within twelve months. 53 per cent of relatives feel psychologically burdened, 38 per cent physically. Among relatives of people with dementia, the figures are even higher at 71 per cent psychological and 47 per cent physical burden. For the study, 1012 family carers aged 40 to 85 were surveyed nationwide.
The social security of family carers was also a topic in the course of the reform. The original draft provided for the pension contributions of long-term care insurance for family carers from 2027 to be paid only on the basis of 70 per cent of the previous contributory income. This planned cut was removed in the cabinet decision. Long-term care insurance continues to cover the pension contributions in full. Linnemann had emphasised in the ARD’s Bericht aus Berlin at the end of September: “On the point where family carers are concerned, I make no concessions.”
In practice, care means an enormous upheaval for many relatives. tagesschau.de portrays the married couple Jutta and Ulf Umsonst from Jugenheim in Rhineland-Palatinate. The 71-year-old Ulf became a care case after a kidney cancer diagnosis with metastases in the head; after two operations he came home. His wife has cared for him since then. “For us it was simply terrible: on Thursday still cycling 80 kilometres and on Saturday practically terminally ill,” she recalls. The Medical Service granted him care level 4 after two assessments. If a care service came several times a week, they would have to forgo large parts of the care allowance.
Waltraud Klein from Mayen, who cared for her parents over many years and is on the executive board of the association Wir pflegen Rheinland-Pfalz e.V., is calling for care centres where day and short-term care, night care, outpatient care services and advisory services come together in one place. “The funding question is important, but it must not be confused with a care reform,” she said. Family structures had changed, with children less often living near their parents.
The draft law must now be debated and passed in the Bundestag. According to the planned timetable, the majority of the law is to come into force on 1 January 2027. The commission is to present proposals by the end of January 2027.
