Tim Klüssendorf, the general secretary of the SPD, sharply criticized the ongoing debates over cuts to dental prosthesis and sickness leave. “These are all demands we can do little with, because in the end they’re the people who have to pay them out” he told the RTL program “Frühstart” and ntv on Monday. “What we’re aiming for is a fairer, more efficient system-what we want to work toward”.
He explained that the goal should be to avoid repeated increases in contributions. “We don’t want citizens to keep paying” the SPD politician said. “We’ll be honest-many benefits can’t suffer large cuts because so many people rely on them and need them. Take the long‑term care system, for example, where out‑of‑pocket costs are already in the thousands of euros”. He stressed the necessity of “universal, solidarity‑based financing”.
Klüssendorf views the SPD’s proposal for a health levy on all income types as an initial “examining mandate” but he is firmly in favor of solidarity financing. “It’s still a long way to go before we can specify the rules, the thresholds, or the exemptions” he said. “We must figure out how to protect small savers”.
He also pointed to changes in the labor market. “Many business models are no longer built around large numbers of employees; they generate profits without needing many workers” he said. “So we’re looking at ways to include other sources of income-different earnings streams-in the financing of our collective welfare system. That’s a line of thought we’ll continue to pursue in the coming weeks and months”.