SPD threatens to block German nursing care reform, patient advocates welcome move

The German Foundation for Patient Protection has welcomed the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) recent move against cuts in nursing care. "It is good that the SPD is now pulling the emergency brake on the planned nursing care legislation," said board member Eugen Brysch on Saturday to the Catholic News Agency (KNA). A sustainable and intergenerationally fair financing system must create predictability: "This means capping the out-of-pocket share for pure nursing care and adjusting insurance subsidies for those in need of care at home in line with cost developments."

However, Brysch added that the initiative will only be credible if SPD leader and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil follows up with concrete actions. Among other things, the minister must repay the €5.5 billion in COVID-19 loans and take over the pension insurance payments for caring relatives, which have risen to over €5 billion. The federal states also have a responsibility: "They must finally take over the training and investment costs. That would immediately relieve nursing home residents by €700 per month."

Building a Care Fund

Furthermore, merging private and statutory long-term care insurance is constitutionally feasible, Brysch added: "All measures combined will give social care breathing room for the next 15 years. That is enough time to build a care fund similar to the planned pension reform."

SPD General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf stated on Instagram on Friday evening that his party will accept "no benefit cuts at the expense of the people" in nursing care. This could block the cabinet decision on nursing care reform planned for Wednesday.

Relief for Families

Care must not become a financial risk for those in need of care and their families, the politician emphasized in his video. Those who care for relatives perform "incredibly valuable work for our society" under great pressure and deserve more support and recognition. Therefore, there must be a genuine structural reform with more solidarity, more relief, and permanently stable financing.

To this end, the SPD is specifically proposing a care cap—limiting the out-of-pocket share for nursing home places, Klüssendorf added. "Furthermore, we want a fair and solidaristic system in which everyone contributes, or at least a fair financial balance between private and statutory long-term care insurance."

Klüssendorf left open what this means for the cabinet decision planned for next week on the financial stabilization of long-term care insurance in the coming year.

SPD Calls for Capping Care Costs

If it were up to the SPD, "we want to significantly relieve those in need of care in the future," the General Secretary said. He referred to the proposal for a care cap introduced by Saarland's SPD Minister-President Anke Rehlinger—capping the out-of-pocket share for nursing home costs.

"With this, we want to prevent people and their families from being financially overwhelmed by care costs," Klüssendorf said. "Furthermore, we want a fair and solidaristic system in which everyone contributes, or at least a fair financial balance between private and statutory long-term care insurance."

Rehlinger had advocated capping the out-of-pocket share for those in need of care at €1,500. According to an analysis by the Association of Substitute Health Insurance Funds, as of July 1, the nationwide average out-of-pocket payment in the first year in a nursing home was €3,364 per month.

Billion-Euro Deficit Looms

The black-red coalition is currently working on a reform to cover the expected billion-euro deficit in long-term care insurance for 2027 and to avoid general contribution increases. Federal Health Minister Carsten Linnemann aims to bring this draft to the cabinet next week. Details are not yet known. A draft by his predecessor Nina Warken (CDU) includes spending brakes and additional revenue.

Linnemann is also planning a more comprehensive nursing care reform and has announced the establishment of an expert commission. "Our care system, as it is currently organized, is not fit for the future," the CDU politician recently told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. If it is not fundamentally restructured, it will collapse in the 2030s, he said. He will therefore launch a "structural commission." "The goal is that, based on their proposals, we will have a structural care reform next year."