Caritas has issued warnings regarding ongoing reforms to the long-term care insurance system, fearing that the changes will place an even greater financial burden on both care recipients and their caregivers. Addressing the media, Caritas President Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa stated that the Minister must ensure that the financial strain on individuals needing care in institutional settings does not worsen.
Specifically, she criticized the proposal to lower the required deductible period for residential care from the current twelve months to eighteen months. While such a measure would offer the care insurance immediate cost savings, Caritas argues that it would permanently discredit the progressive nature of the relief model currently in place, a model already deemed insufficient by many.
Beyond financial measures, Caritas expressed concern about potential negative incentives. Welskop-Deffaa warned that the new regulations could encourage individuals to gift existing assets to children and grandchildren before they require care, thereby undermining the fundamental principle of solidarity supported by the insurance plan.
She stressed the critical need to protect supporting family members, noting that most care services are still provided within the family unit. Therefore, she demanded that the reform must protect the current safeguards for caregivers. These included preserving the contribution-free family coverage option, maintaining the structure of contributions calculated based on the number of children, and ensuring the coverage of pension contributions for assisting family members.
In summary, Welskop-Deffaa emphasized that the care insurance operates as a partial benefit scheme that relies significantly on family solidarity. She concluded by reminding the public of a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, which has repeatedly stressed that the concept of “generative contribution” must be given greater consideration within the care insurance than in any other branch of social security.
