The German Association for Nursing Home and Disabled Persons Aid (VDAB) has issued a stark warning regarding the planned care reform, noting that stalled negotiations are placing increasing pressure on care facilities and individuals requiring assistance. Thomas Knieling, the VDAB’s federal director, told Funke-Medien that the current delay is highly problematic and only escalating the strain. Since October, the care insurance has been short by approximately 500 million euros, and a speedy resolution does not currently appear within reach, which continues to worry care institutions and recipients.
Knieling stressed that the Union and the SPD must make every effort to finally push the care reform forward. However, he also cautioned against turning the planned structural reform into a mere political exercise, insisting that the solution must be grounded in practical reality, not just politically shelved. The care sector urgently needs concrete answers and a reliably funded system; otherwise, both the provision of care and the care insurance itself are at risk. The VDAB represents private professional care companies and inclusion assistance services, and Knieling called for a reform solution that genuinely accounts for the operational conditions within the sector, demanding planning certainty and clarity regarding future financing.
The political contention over the care reform is intensifying just ahead of a planned cabinet meeting. Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU) aims to introduce the Care Ordering Law (PNOG) to the cabinet next week. This legislation intends to stabilize the financing of care insurance for 2027, which Linnemann states requires savings of around 8 billion euros. Meanwhile, the SPD rejects benefit reductions, demanding measures such as capping the self-payments of residents in nursing homes and achieving greater financial equilibrium between social and private care insurance. Discussions are ongoing within the governing coalition. Furthermore, Linnemann also plans a more fundamental structural reform of care, utilizing an expert commission whose recommendations are expected to form the basis for a broader overhaul next year.
