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Retirement home in Lower Saxony: More care needs cause higher costs
Photo: Sina Schuldt / dpa
The red numbers were already emerging, now they are official: the statutory long-term care insurance in Germany recorded a deficit of around 2.2 billion euros last year.
As reported by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, the liquidity reserve of the long-term care insurance funds was around 5.7 billion euros at the end of the year and thus 1.2 billion below the legally stipulated amount.
At the end of 2021, the deficit was around 1.35 billion euros.
The reason for the development is the continuously increasing number of people in need of care, as the "Augsburger Allgemeine" reported.
Since 1999, the number has increased from two million at the time to 4.6 million now.
In view of the relief for families with many children demanded by the Federal Constitutional Court from the summer, the health insurance companies are warning of additional financial burdens for long-term care insurance, according to the newspaper.
The federal government must present a draft law as soon as possible, said the deputy chairman of the central association of statutory health insurance (GKV), Gernot Kiefer.
"Since this is a family policy benefit, tax money would have to flow for this." However, the federal government has so far "not signaled any willingness" to do so.
"The verdict must be implemented by the end of July at the latest, and so far there are not even any key points," said Kiefer.
"Both the long-term care insurance funds and the employers need at least six months to implement a contribution rate that is staggered according to the number of children."
According to the Karlsruhe judgment, parents with several children should in future pay less care contributions than parents with only one child.
The judges instructed the legislature to regulate the contributions to long-term care insurance by the end of July 2023.
The government wants to implement the requirements of the constitutional court in good time
Parents currently pay lower contributions to statutory long-term care insurance than childless people.
Childless people have paid a surcharge since 2005, which was increased again in 2022.
So far, however, no distinction has been made according to the number of children, which is now to change.
The Federal Constitutional Court saw discrimination as early as the second child.
Green parliamentary group leader Maria Klein-Schmeink announced that the requirements of the constitutional court would be implemented in good time as part of the planned care reform.
"We will implement this mandate to Parliament as part of our traffic light coalition in the first half of the year as part of a more comprehensive reform for care," she told the "Augsburger Allgemeine".
Irrespective of this, the financial situation of long-term care insurance should be stabilized in a timely manner through fundamental measures.
The care policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group, Nicole Westig, pointed out that the details were still being discussed within the coalition.
"I ask for your understanding that we cannot and do not want to give anything to the outside at the moment," she told the newspaper.
However, the FDP is pushing for a fundamental restructuring of long-term care insurance for sustainable and generation-fair financing.
According to Westig, this is only possible with more elements of capital cover.
mic/AFP
