As of: February 15, 2024, 11:51 a.m
By: Robert Wallenhauer
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A place in a nursing home will become more expensive again in 2024.
Although care allowances etc. have been increased, they only partially compensate for the additional costs for those affected.
Why nursing homes are becoming more and more expensive.
Berlin - Care for millions of people has been becoming more and more expensive for years.
As of January 1st, a nationwide average of 2,576 euros per month was due out of one's own pocket for the first year in the home - 165 euros more than at the beginning of 2023, according to an evaluation by the Association of Substitute Insurance Funds.
“Home places have once again become more expensive for those in need of care,” said the head of the substitute health insurance association, Ulrike Elsner: The higher subsidies from the care funds only partially compensated for the increase.
But why are the costs of care rising again?
Rising wages drive up the cost of care
Several reasons are responsible for the rapidly increasing costs.
On the one hand, there are rising wages in nursing in order to retain - and recruit - the necessary staff.
The collective wage agreement has existed in long-term care since 2022.
According to this, only care facilities that are bound to either collective agreements or church employment contract guidelines receive approval.
Or follow collective agreements or pay the usual regional wage level for your federal state.
Care: The costs for nursing home residents are rising again this year.
© Pancake Pictures/Imago
In 2022, 1.2 million women and men would work in geriatric care, according to the Federal Ministry of Labor at the time.
Half of them receive standard wages, the other half receive an average of 300 euros more per month, reports the
Tagesspiegel
.
Costs of care: energy, food, wages are cost drivers
Other cost drivers for care include increased energy prices, supply costs - but also buildings in need of renovation in many places, writes the Berlin daily newspaper.
“We want to pay nursing staff well, we want old people’s homes to be cleaned, renovated and supplied with food – and that will cost more in the future,” says Berlin CDU economic expert Christian Gräff to the
Tagesspiegel
.
“As a society, we avoid the question of how we deal with those in need of care.
The personal contribution should be fixed – i.e. a capped deductible,” said Berlin SPD social expert Lars Düsterhöft to the newspaper.
It is also known in federal politics that something has to change: In view of the ever-increasing costs of care, relief has been available for those in need of care at home and in nursing homes since the turn of the year.
The care allowance, which was last increased in 2017, rose by five percent on January 1st, determined by a law from the traffic light coalition.
Care allowance is intended to support those in need of care who do not live in institutions.
In addition, relief surcharges for residents in homes were increased on January 1st.
The amount you have to pay for pure care should be reduced more significantly than before.
Patient Protection Foundation: Increase in nursing care allowance not high enough
However, the German Foundation for Patient Protection criticized the increases as being too low.
Board member Eugen Brysch told the
German Press Agency
: “The avalanche of costs that is piling up is burying the more than four million people in need of care at home.” The increase in care allowance is “almost ineffective”.
The price increases of the past few months have hardly been offset.
The federal government is not compensating for rising wages and escalating energy costs.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) must ensure that the increase in care allowance meets the basic needs of those in need of help.
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The reform is intended to mobilize an additional 6.6 billion euros per year and initially provide long-term care insurance with financial security until 2025.
In a first step on July 1st, the care contribution was increased by 0.35 percentage points, and a little more for those without children.
Families with at least two children pay less contributions than before - based on the employee share.
In a second stage, there have been several relief measures since January 1st.
Care at home and in the nursing home - that has changed in 2024
The relief for those in need of care at home has changed in detail as follows: The care allowance, which was last increased seven years ago, rose by five percent in January.
Those in need of care can decide for themselves how to use it - many pass it on to caring relatives as recognition.
Outpatient benefits in kind for care provided by nursing services were also increased by five percent.
The exact amounts depend on the level of care.
For example, according to the Association of Replacement Funds with care level three, the care allowance increases from 545 euros to 573 euros - and the amount for benefits in kind from 1,363 to 1,432 euros.
Something has also changed for nursing home residents this year: the relief surcharges for residents introduced at the beginning of 2022, depending on the length of stay, have been increased.
This should reduce the personal contribution for pure care in the home by 15 instead of the previous 5 percent, in the second year by 30 instead of 25 percent, in the third by 50 instead of 45 percent and from the fourth year onwards by 75 instead of 70 percent.
In the home there are also payments for accommodation, food and investments in the facilities.
(row with dpa)