Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) said she wants nursing insurance funds to pay care homes more so that residents will have to pay less out of pocket.
“I want to counterbalance the rising shares that residents have to contribute and ensure that good care continues” she told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Tuesday edition).
In the care reform slated for 2027, the FAZ reports, there could be a rule that increases the funds’ payments to homes in line with the annual inflation rate-a change that does not currently happen on a regular basis.
Warken explained that the “dynamisation” (regular adjustment) of services must become more reliable for everyone by fighting depreciation and slowing the rise in residents’ contributions.
“This could be achieved by permanently applying a dynamic adjustment equal to the yearly inflation development” she said.
She added that all parties could rely on this mechanism, eliminating the “unsustainable periodic political over‑bidding competitions” that the minister described as a problem.
Warken referred to the upcoming reform as a “total package” and said it is based on the recommendations issued in December by a federal‑state working group on the “Future Pact for Care”.
The Scientific Institute of Private Health Insurance (WIP) has calculated the potential costs.
According to the unpublished WIP study referenced by the FAZ, adjusting nursing services by inflation and limiting residents’ out‑of‑pocket contributions to €1,000 per month (the “Pflegedeckel”) would cost the nursing insurance funds €137.6 billion by 2040.
This figure is roughly equal to the total amount agreed to in the pension package approved in 2025-a package that had faced protests from the “Young Group” within the Union faction.