Concerns are emerging regarding the potential failure of planned reforms to Germany’s care system, with the Federal Government’s Care Commissioner, Katrin Staffler (CSU), urging additional financial support from the Federal Finance Minister, Lars Klingbeil (SPD). Staffler cautioned that relying solely on previously allocated loans would be insufficient to ensure the long-term viability of the care insurance system.
Speaking to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, Staffler emphasized that restructuring existing benefits alone would not suffice. She acknowledged the current strain on the national budget but insisted that prioritizing funding for care remained a societal imperative. The previously agreed upon loans totaling two billion euros, she stated, should not represent the final commitment.
Staffler pointed to an outstanding debt of over five billion euros owed to the care insurance system by the federal government, stemming from the period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, she argued against burdening care insurance recipients with the financial responsibility for covering support provided to family caregivers or the training costs for care personnel, expenses which collectively exceed six billion euros annually. She drew a comparison to the practice of publicly funding the training of physicians, deeming it a justifiable use of taxpayer money.
The Care Commissioner did not rule out the possibility of unpopular decisions being made by the joint Federal-State working group tasked with implementing the reforms. She explicitly stated that the group would need to present more than just positive news and that fundamental changes to existing benefits are unavoidable.