Burkhard Jung, the president of the German Cities Association and also the mayor of Leipzig, is demanding the complete withdrawal of the draft care reform proposed by Federal Minister of Health Nina Warken. Speaking to the “Funke” media group, Jung stated that the draft is an insult to municipalities and will impose an additional burden amounting to billions of euros.
Jung reminded the public that cities and communities have been engaged in intensive discussions with the federal government and the states for months, seeking ways to relieve them of social spending. Currently, cities and towns are solely responsible for covering the “assistance for care” costs for people requiring long-term care. This responsibility currently costs municipalities more than 5 billion euros annually, a trend that is sharply increasing. According to calculations by the leading association of municipalities, spending on assistance for care rose by 51 percent between 2014 and 2024, escalating from 3.5 billion to 5.3 billion euros.
The SPD politician criticized the health ministry’s proposal, arguing that while it may alleviate the burdens on public care insurance funds, it simultaneously hands yet another multi-billion euro debt to municipalities. He added that while the plans hint at potential relief for local governments, this is insufficient. “Any detailed revisions of the draft won’t help” Jung asserted. “This draft must be entirely scrapped”.
The primary goal of the reform is to raise insurance fund revenue while preventing the extremely rapid rise in contributions for insured individuals. One measure involves increasing the contribution assessment ceiling so that higher earners bear a greater share of the cost. Additionally, the contribution rate for childless individuals is set to be raised by 0.1 percentage points to a total of 0.7 contribution points. The rules governing the contribution-free co-insurance of spouses will also face restrictions similar to those currently in health insurance.
Overall, the care reform is projected to save approximately eleven billion euros in the first year. According to the draft, these potential savings are estimated to rise to around 20.3 billion euros by 2030. The cabinet is expected to finalize these plans before the start of the summer break in July, with the majority of the reform measures set to take effect at the turn of the year.
