German politician Jens Spahn, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) parliamentary group, has flatly rejected the idea of increasing contributions to Germany’s health and long-term care insurance, citing the current economic stagnation.
According to Spahn, the government should not allow the contributions to rise on January 1st and if necessary, the federal government should cover the costs with tax revenue. In the long run, the social contributions should decrease, he emphasized.
In a related development, Spahn announced plans to cut spending on the citizen’s allowance, a social welfare program. The CDU politician expressed his disapproval of the current high expenditure of over 50 billion euros on the program, terming it “madness.” He recalled that the coalition had agreed to achieve at least three billion euros in annual savings and now it is essential that this goal is met.