In the face of recent reports indicating that the self-payment quota for a spot in a care home has risen to as much as 3,000 euros, the Left is calling for fundamental changes in the financing of care.
“We need no half-measures, but a genuine care revolution” said party chair Ines Schwerdtner. “That’s why the Left is demanding a solidarity-based health and care insurance, in which everyone contributes with their income, so that everyone can be well cared for. We want a solidarity-based care insurance that covers all care services, so that self-payment quotas disappear.”
This would also alleviate municipalities, as they would no longer have to cover the self-payment quotas for those who cannot afford them, Schwerdtner added. “For that, the upper limit of contributions has to go and income from capital gains and rental income must be taken into account.”
The current system favors those who do not only earn their income through work, but also have shares or rent out properties. “It cannot be that those who earn more, not just because of their work, but also because of their assets, can easily afford the care home, while many people become poor as they enter the care home, despite having worked their whole lives” the Left’s chair said.