CDU politicians initiate reform of long-term care insurance

The CDU has proposed a fundamental reform of long-term care insurance. The current insurance scheme is to be converted into a full insurance scheme financed by the federal government, which would cover all care-related costs. The Saxon State Chancellery confirmed a corresponding report in the newspaper "Die Welt" and spoke of an East-West paper, as the concept originates from Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. The background to this is the sharp rise in care costs. One in three people in need of care is already dependent on social welfare as their pension is not sufficient to cover the cost of care, it said.

"In Saxony, it is even more than one in three. Pensions of 1,200 to 1,400 euros on average are offset by care costs of 3,000 euros per month. Anyone who is in need automatically becomes a social case", "Die Welt" quoted Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU): "North Rhine-Westphalia's Social Affairs Minister Karl-Josef Laumann and I have therefore developed a concept for a change in the system, for full insurance that covers all care-related costs." According to calculations by the IGES Institute - a research and consulting institute for infrastructure and health issues - this would require around 16.5 billion euros in 2026, for example, which the federal government would have to cover.

According to the figures, this could save those in need of care and their relatives a total of 8.9 billion euros. This is the amount that those affected have to bear themselves each year through their own contribution to care-related costs. "People in need of care and their families would then only have to bear the costs that are not directly related to care," explained Kretschmer. According to the CDU concept, this would primarily include investment, operating and catering costs. "If contributors also want to insure themselves against these costs, they should be able to take out voluntarily affordable supplementary long-term care insurance to cover them," the newspaper quoted from the reform paper.