The service sector trade union Verdi has expressed profound disappointment with the concluding report of the Federal-State Working Group on nursing care reform, signaling a deepening crisis in Germany’s social safety net. The report, intended to chart a path towards a sustainable nursing care system, has been widely criticized for its lack of concrete action and reliance on piecemeal solutions.
“Many proposals remain vague and a genuine reform that establishes the social nursing insurance system on a stable financial basis is nowhere to be found” stated Sylvia Bühler, a Verdi federal executive board member. The union argues the report fails to address fundamental shortcomings, notably the continued absence of investment and training cost assumption by the federal government and states and the failure to incorporate a broader range of income sources into the insurance pool. This, Bühler contends, perpetuates a haphazard and insufficient approach.
Verdi advocates for a more equitable system that includes higher incomes – including dividends and rental income – to bolster nursing care insurance revenues, a suggestion sidelined in favor of discussions centered around mandatory private provisions. Bühler sharply condemned this alternative as a “neoliberal relic” emphasizing the need for a solidarity-based approach to societal risk. She argued that the public is increasingly anxious about the prospect of financial hardship and inadequate care in the event of needing nursing services.
Andreas Storm, CEO of the health insurance provider DAK, echoed Bühler’s concerns, stating the report risks exacerbating the existing nursing crisis. “The commission should have delivered a blueprint for comprehensive reform. Instead, it has presented an unbinding collection of all conceivable reform options, without a single concrete proposal to address the financial crisis” Storm told the “Rheinische Post”. He suggested the effort has ironically left the nation further from a viable solution than at the time of the commission’s formation.
The absence of a clear strategy, particularly regarding the capping of out-of-pocket expenses for nursing home care, known as the “Sockel-Spitze-Tausch” (base-peak swap), further underlines the perceived inadequacy of the report. Verdi’s vision extends to a comprehensive overhaul where the nursing insurance system covers all costs associated with care. Critics warn that without a bold and financially robust plan, the long-term sustainability of Germany’s nursing care system remains dangerously uncertain.