Nursing home care is becoming more expensive - parliamentary groups call for reform

The financial burden for people in need of care in Saxony is increasing. After the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (vdek) published new figures on the increased co-payments in Saxon care homes, demands from the state parliament were raised. According to the vdek, co-payments now average 2,986 euros - nine percent more than a year ago.

The vast majority of those affected will become social cases

"We can no longer stand by and watch care costs skyrocket. Almost €3,000 towards the cost of a place in a care home turns the vast majority of those affected into social cases, even after a long working life," emphasized Susanne Schaper, parliamentary group leader of the Left Party. Even good pensions would no longer be enough. Some even have to sell their hard-earned home or condominium, which they would otherwise have liked to leave to their children or grandchildren.

Calls for a reform of long-term care insurance

"We must not treat our older people like this. The need for long-term care must not mean that hardly anything is left of their lifetime achievements," emphasized Schaper. The Ersatzkassenverband's demand that the federal states should cover the investment and training costs would save those affected hundreds of euros a month. "It is imperative that the long-term care insurance system is restructured fairly into a full insurance scheme based on solidarity: Everyone who earns an income should pay into the statutory long-term care insurance funds," demanded Schaper.

AfD demands long-term care living allowance

The AfD demanded a long-term care living allowance. "The CDU in Saxony announced a care allowance in 2019, but unfortunately we are still waiting for it today. The nursing home allowance is tantamount to covering the investment costs," explained parliamentary group leader Jörg Urban. It is a disgrace how older people in need of care who have worked their entire lives are treated. This is why the AfD demanded 189.3 million euros more for care in the last budget negotiations.

Care is increasingly becoming a poverty risk

"Care is increasingly becoming a poverty risk. Instead of providing security, the system is increasingly driving those in need of care and their relatives into financial overload," emphasized Green parliamentary group leader Franziska Schubert. Things could not go on like this. Long-term care insurance was introduced in 1995 to protect people from the financial risks of needing long-term care. "This promise is being kept less and less today." The Greens are calling on Saxony's government to provide greater support for investment in care homes and for the federal government to reform the care insurance system.

The German Association of Cities also sees an urgent need for action

The topic of care also came up at the conference of the German Association of Cities in Dresden. After all, rising care costs are also becoming an increasing burden for local authorities. "Very, very many people, especially in the East, but also increasingly in the West, are not able to pay their own share and the local authorities in the social welfare offices then become the guarantor," said Burkhard Jung (SPD), Lord Mayor of Leipzig and President of the Association of German Cities: "This is increasingly becoming the standard form of financing."

According to Jung, the costs in this area in Leipzig have increased from 25 to 50 million euros per year over the past five years.
Jung also called for a reform of care insurance. As with health insurance, it must cover the costs in full.