The SPD has drafted a proposal to introduce a new levy for financing Germany’s health system. The draft, revealed in a board‑meeting guideline, builds on an interim report from the party’s internal Social State Commission. It points out that, today, “primarily wages carry the burden of our health and care system”. According to the SPD, this places an uneven load on many people and undermines social justice, so a financing solution must also involve those who have not previously contributed fairly to the care infrastructure. The proposal aims for a fair, earmarked solution that covers all income types, and it calls for a simultaneous reduction of traditional contributions.
Technically, this would be a paradigm shift in health policy. In addition to employment income, the SPD proposes using capital gains and rental income to fund healthcare, expanding the payer base. Currently, dividends and rents are considered only for voluntary members of the statutory health insurance (GKV), and only up to the contribution‑assessment ceiling.
Another pillar of the social‑state financing plan is to extend mandatory pension insurance to civil servants, self‑employed persons, and office holders. “A solidaristic pension system must, in the long term, include all workers-if you work, you pay” the draft states. To reduce the number of civil servants, the social democrats propose restricting new appointments to purely sovereign tasks.
The SPD also guarantees that the pension level will stay at least at 48 percent beyond 2031, while retirees must continue to participate in wage growth. The party rejects linking pension increases to inflation, insisting instead on a prospectively rising pension level.