A spokesman for Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has rejected a media report about an impending bankruptcy of the nursing care insurance company. He “could not confirm this in this form”. According to his spokesman, Lauterbach emphasized several times in the recent past that the insurance company was having both short-term and structural difficulties. “There are essentially three reasons for this: With the recent care reform, we have significantly reduced the burden on those in need of care in homes, care workers receive higher wages, and there are more people in need of care than expected.”
The SPD politician will soon present a concept for long-term care insurance, which is in great financial difficulty. His spokesman said this was intended to put the insurance company back on a more stable footing in both the short and long term. The editorial network Germany (RND) previously reported that the traffic light coalition was working feverishly on an “emergency operation”. The RND, citing coalition circles, continued to write that there was even a risk of insolvency.
Nursing insurance expects red numbers for this year and next. In June, the umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies, which also represents nursing care funds, forecast a loss of 1.5 billion euros this year and 3.4 billion euros next year. Mathematically, this would correspond to a contribution increase of 0.2 points. According to the RND, the government is instead assuming a need for an increase of 0.25 to 0.3 points.
Lauterbach had announced further care reform in view of the tense financial situation and at the end of August in “Stern” he also indicated further premium increases in health and nursing care insurance for 2025.
The coalition had already implemented an initial reform. It brought relief for those in need of care with personal contributions, but also a higher contribution: for people without children it rose to 4 percent in mid-2023 and to 3.4 percent for contributors with one child. Families with at least two children now pay less – based on the employee share – than before.
