The German Association of Cities is demanding a fundamental realignment of long-term care insurance: it should in future cover all care costs as a full insurance. Burkhard Jung (SPD), President of the Association and Mayor of Leipzig, told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” that anyone who has worked all their life must not slip into social welfare because of care. For municipalities, the change would mean relief in the billions year after year.
Friedrich Merz (CDU) announced in July that the care reform would be put on the agenda in autumn. With the Care Reorganisation Act, the Ministry of Health wants to stabilise the finances of care insurance to close billion-euro gaps and avoid contribution increases. Behind the project is a savings package.
Cost cap for nursing home residents demanded
The Association of Cities is also pushing to limit the burden on nursing home residents. Jung proposed introducing a cap on co-payments based on income. He cited the model of Saarland’s Anke Rehlinger (SPD) as a model, whereby insurers cover co-payments above 1,500 euros. The federal government, states, and municipalities would have to finance the cap together.
The background to the initiative is the growing financial distress of cities and municipalities. Jung pointed to an annual deficit of 30 billion euros, which he said puts municipalities “completely against the wall.” They have to step in when seniors can no longer pay for their nursing home places themselves. In Leipzig, spending on “care assistance” has risen by 300 percent within five years. Especially in the east, fewer and fewer people can afford their co-payments. “It cannot be that the social welfare office becomes the regular source of care financing,” Jung criticised.
Care costs are rising due to higher personnel and operating costs, inflation, and the growing number of people in need of care, which now exceeds six million. The draft law was still presented by former Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU); now Carsten Linnemann (CDU) heads the department. Warken had spoken out against full insurance.
Source: www.spiegel.de
