The Union and the SPD have successfully resolved their dispute regarding the working mandate for the planned Care Commission. This agreement stems from the unified draft presented for the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday, according to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.”
Furthermore, at the request of the SPD, the Care Structure Commission is tasked with examining the possibility of limiting the sharply rising self-payments incurred in nursing homes. However, this is only a preliminary review mandate; the term “care ceiling,” which the SPD used, is not mentioned in the draft put forward by Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU).
The commission will also investigate the SPD’s demand to involve private insurance providers in financing statutory care. The wording for this task is notably general, stating that the commission will “examine models for constitutionally compliant social compensation mechanisms and make proposals.” The committee is expected to put forward suggestions both inside and outside of the existing care insurance system.
The mandate includes developing concrete proposals aimed at preventing residents in nursing homes from being forced into social assistance due to high expenses. Specifically, the commission must review whether supplementary payments from the care insurance could be linked to a person’s income or assets. The goal is to target these subsidies “more precisely toward certain groups, for example those without assets or those with lower and medium income.” Additionally, the commission is expected to examine the feasibility of long-term capital funding within the care sector.
According to the draft, the commission will consist of 13 experts. The leadership positions will be filled by Georg Cremer, former General Secretary of the German Caritas Association, and Gabriele Kuhn-Zuber, President of the Catholic University of Social Services in Berlin.
