For year and day there has been a struggle for a care reform - now there is apparently a breakthrough in Merkel's GroKo.
But the opposition reprimands Patchwerk.
And sees the next case for Karlsruhe.
Berlin - Angela Merkel's grand coalition has apparently agreed on a nursing reform after a tough struggle.
That would clear up an urgent topic.
At least for the time being: The opposition criticized the agreement as half-hearted and not very viable, among other things.
Intervention by the Federal Constitutional Court was also feared in some cases.
Care in Germany: collectively agreed wages should come with political pressure, childless surcharge flourishes
According to the coalition plans, the contribution rate for long-term care insurance for childless people is to be increased by 0.1 percentage points to 3.4 percent from January next year.
According to the draft law, the contribution rate for parents remains stable at 3.05 percent.
In order to relieve those in need of care from increasing co-payments, grants from the state are also planned for January 1, 2022.
The draft was available to the dpa on Sunday, previously the
Ärzte Zeitung
and
Bild am Sonntag
reported.
Another key aspect of the plans: In order to achieve higher wages in the care of the elderly, from September 2022, homes and care services will only be allowed to settle accounts with the care fund if they pay their carers according to the tariff.
By then, every employer must either conclude a collective agreement with a trade union or adopt the wage agreement from a valid collective agreement in his region for his employees.
The reform draft from the health ministry led by Jens Spahn (CDU) is reportedly to be passed in the cabinet on Wednesday.
However, the ministry also said on request on Sunday that the draft was still the subject of internal government discussions.
A federal subsidy for long-term care insurance of one billion euros annually from 2022 is provided as counter-financing.
Spahn's nursing reform under fire: FDP sees "patchwork" - Left a case for the constitutional court
The response, however, was not very positive.
The FDP questioned the financial soundness of the plans on Sunday and criticized in particular the planned increase in the long-term care insurance contribution for the childless.
The Greens criticized the envisaged relief of those in need of care in terms of their own contribution as insufficient and called for a nationwide statutory anchoring of collectively agreed wages in care.
The nursing and elderly policy spokeswoman for the Green parliamentary group, Kordula Schulz-Asche, criticized the draft as "half-hearted". In principle, it is to be welcomed that there should be an annual tax subsidy of one billion euros for long-term care insurance from 2022, Schulz-Asche told the AFP news agency. However, this would “not be enough to cope with the challenges of demographic change.” She criticized that “there was a failure to enshrine collectively agreed wages across the board”. The fact that the draft only provides for an evaluation of the wage situation at the end of the next legislative period is "outrageous for the skilled workers".
FDP care expert Nicole Westig reprimanded the plans as a "quick shot". "Particularly short-sighted is the plan to burden childless with even higher contributions, because that will not last long," she told AFP. "Anyone who promises higher nursing wages must ensure solid refinancing," demanded Westig. "But Federal Health Minister Spahn did not present a solid refinancing concept - reaching into the general federal budget clearly shows this." Without "sustainable and generational financing" for care, all such attempts would simply be "patchwork".
"Although the nursing reform contains improvements, it falls short of what is necessary," said left leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow of the AFP.
Dietmar Bartsch, the party's top candidate for the federal election *, prophesied on Twitter: “The arbitrary contribution increase for childless people will end up in Karlsruhe” - it would be the next court flop in an important area under the Climate Protection Act.
Bartsch called for "ONE strong long-term care, health and pension insurance, into which EVERYONE pays."
Nursing reform: breakthrough after the dispute between Heil and Spahn - but also the union remains skeptical?
In the care of the elderly with around 1.2 million employees, according to the Ministry of Labor, barely half of the wages are agreed. An attempt at a collective bargaining agreement, which head of department Hubertus Heil (SPD) wanted to make binding for the entire industry, failed at the beginning of the year.
At the same time, the self-payable share for those in need of care in the home rose, they are now at 2068 euros per month in the national average. On the one hand, this includes the co-payment for pure care. Because, unlike health insurance, long-term care insurance only bears part of the costs. For home residents, however, there are also costs for accommodation, meals and investments in the facilities. According to Spahn's plans, the personal share for pure care should in the future fall by 25 percent in the second year in the home, in the third year by 50 percent and from the fourth year by 75 percent.
The Verdi union also criticized the collective bargaining plans. It is unclear whether they would even lead to an overdue rise in wages on a broad front. "It must be ensured that the reference is made exclusively to relevant collective agreements," demanded union leader Frank Werneke. (
dpa / AFP / fn
) *
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