Because of the ever-increasing cost of care, there should be relief for those in need of care – but also higher contributions, except for families with several younger children. The federal cabinet launched plans by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on Wednesday, which are intended to stabilize the finances of long-term care insurance until 2025.
The care contribution is to be increased by 0.35 percentage points on July 1 and even more for people without children. People in need of care at home and in the home should get more money in 2024. The cabinet also approved a bill that aims to avoid drug shortages more effectively.
Lauterbach said on the care reform that those in need of care deserve full solidarity. “Since the costs of good care are constantly increasing, the community of solidarity must not look the other way and leave these higher costs to those being cared for and their relatives.” At the same time, it is important to stabilize the financing of care. Criticism came from patient protectors, nursing care funds, the opposition and also from the traffic light coalition itself.
An overview of key points:
Care at home: According to the draft, the care allowance that was last increased in 2017 should increase by five percent on January 1, 2024, as will the amounts for benefits in kind. Nursing allowance is available as support if the person in need of nursing care does not live in an institution. You can use it freely, for example for care. Depending on the level of care, it is between 316 and 901 euros per month. The German Foundation for Patient Protection complained that the more than four million people cared for at home would continue to be abandoned. A care allowance plus of only five percent is “not remotely in relation to the cost explosion” in the past five years, said board member Eugen Brysch. The personal contribution for pure care should be reduced by 15 instead of the previous 5 percent in the first year in the home, by 30 instead of 25 percent in the second year, by 50 instead of 45 percent and from the fourth year by 75 instead of 70 percent. The background to this is that nursing care insurance – unlike health insurance – only bears part of the costs for pure nursing care. In the home, there are also payments for accommodation, meals and investments in the facilities. Contributions I: The care contribution is currently 3.05 percent of the gross wage, for people without children it is 3.4 percent. It is to be increased on July 1, in combination with changes due to a judgment by the Federal Constitutional Court. Accordingly, a distinction must be made more according to whether one has children or not. All in all, the contribution for childless people should rise to 4 percent and for those who pay contributions with one child to 3.4 percent. The employer’s contribution contained therein is now to be increased from 1.525 percent to 1.7 percent. Lauterbach said that would get you through this legislative period. However, things cannot go on like this. A commission should therefore deal with considerations for a longer-term financial concept. Contributions II: Specifically, the care contribution for larger families should be reduced more significantly for the duration of the upbringing phase up to the 25th birthday of the child in question – gradually for each child. From two children would have to be paid – based on the employee share of currently 1.525 percent – less than today. With two children, the employee share should be 1.45 percent in the future, with three children 1.2 percent, with four children 0.95 percent and with five or more children 0.7 percent. If a child is older than 25 years, “his” deduction does not apply. If all children are out of the child-raising period, the one-child contribution applies permanently, even if you are retired. The reactions: The co-governing Greens promptly reported a need for improvement for the deliberations in the Bundestag. The politicians Maria Klein-Schmeink and Kordula Schulz-Asche criticized that it had to be said that the finance minister prevented people in need of care and their families from being given the necessary relief. Tax funds for social tasks agreed in the coalition agreement are not available. Union expert Tino Sorge (CDU) warned of a financial collapse. Lauterbach and FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner have been blocking each other for months. The long-term care insurance funds complained that the government was clearly falling short with the present draft. The delivery bottlenecks: In order to avoid the loss of important medicines, Lauterbach wants to relax certain price rules. This should make deliveries to Germany more attractive. Manufacturers of children’s medicines should be allowed to increase the price by up to 50 percent. In addition, European manufacturers – starting with antibiotics – are to have a greater say. Provisions are also planned for stocks lasting several months as a safety buffer. With other measures, the law is likely to cost the statutory coffers a mid three-digit million amount more, as the minister estimated. The left criticized that he buckled in front of the pharmaceutical lobby. There were bottlenecks last winter, for example with patent-free medicines such as fever syrups for children.
