Eva Welskop-Deffaa, the president of Caritas, has criticized the plans put forward by Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) regarding a comprehensive reform of nursing care. She warned that the proposed measures represent an “selling out of the social safety net for care risks” emphasizing that the financial burden on people requiring care in institutional settings must not increase further.
Currently, residents in nursing homes across Germany pay an out-of-pocket share averaging 3,200 Euros. Furthermore, they receive performance supplements from the social care insurance, which increase based on the length of stay. Warken is considering stretching out the increase of these supplements. According to Welskop-Deffaa, this adjustment would mean that the 75 percent relief regarding care-related costs, which would be reached today, would only be accessible after 54 months instead of 36. She noted that the majority of clients would not live long enough to reach this extended timeframe.
In addition, the Caritas president opposed plans that would halve the pension contributions for family caregivers. Calling family caregivers “the backbone of care in Germany” Welskop-Deffaa stated that reducing their pension points-which serve as future security for their service-in order to generate short-term savings is an unacceptable social disaster.
