German Coalition Vows Deal on Care System Reform
Lawmakers seek to stabilize rising nursing costs and resolve bitter intraparty disputes threatening to push the insurance fund into insolvency.
German coalition partners pledged on Wednesday to finalize a compromise on long-term care reform following disputes over funding and structural changes.
The governing Christian Democratic Union, Christian Social Union and Social Democratic Party held talks in Berlin to conclude discussions before a planned Cabinet decision. The dispute centers on how to finance mandatory long-term care insurance. Statutory insurers warned that without financial intervention, the care insurance system could face insolvency by October.
The care fund faces an estimated shortfall of 4.4 billion euros this year. Forecasters project that deficit could widen to 10 billion euros by 2027.
Health Minister Carsten Linnemann prioritized immediate financial stabilization to prevent ballooning deficits. Linnemann proposed raising eligibility thresholds for care classifications to contain expenses. He also ruled out adding financial burdens to roughly 4 million family caregivers.
The SPD pressed for structural changes and statutory limits on expenses paid by patients. SPD parliamentary leader Matthias Miersch argued that care should not expose families to poverty. The party demanded a monthly cap of 1,500 euros on out-of-pocket payments for pure nursing home care. The SPD also called for private health insurers to pay a larger share into the statutory care system.
Linnemann resisted immediate cost caps. He stated that temporary caps would fail to fix the underlying structural deficits while nursing home bills average over 3,300 euros monthly. He proposed referring broader reforms to an expert commission starting in late October.
Local municipalities also demanded changes. Town and county representatives warned that unresolved healthcare deficits could shift onto local government welfare budgets.
Separately, German law enforcement conducted international raids early Wednesday morning. More than 1,000 police officers searched 140 properties in Germany and other European countries. Duisburg police and prosecutors led the operation, which targeted an international money-laundering network and members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.
Coalition leaders continued closed negotiations on the care bill ahead of formal consideration by the Federal Cabinet.
