Nursing care insurance in the crisis: premium increases and growing worries!

Nursing care insurance in the crisis: premium increases and growing worries!

Nursing care insurance in Germany is facing a dramatic change! From January 2025, the contribution rate will increase by 0.2 percentage points to 3.6% in order to address rising costs and the growing number of people in need of care exxpress.at reported. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said that although there was no imminent threat of insolvency of the nursing care insurance, the situation required urgent measures. A deficit of around 1.8 billion euros is expected in 2024, which could increase to up to 3.5 billion euros in the following year. The increase in contributions is intended to provide an additional 3.7 billion euros annually. Unlike other insured persons, pensioners are initially spared from the adjustment in order not to increase their financial burden.

Financial improvements and performance adjustments

The federal government is also planning to increase care benefits by 4.5% - both for care allowance and for benefits in kind. This is a step to adapt support for those in need of care to the rising cost of living. Critics of these measures include experts and members of the opposition who note that the premium increase is only a short-term solution to the structural problems of long-term care insurance. They are calling for more profound reforms to make the system future-proof.

The challenge does not only remain in Germany. An increase in the number of people in need of care can also be observed in Austria. There are currently 460,000 people receiving care allowance and forecasts suggest that this number could rise to around 800,000 by 2030. According to the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO), public spending on care services could increase by more than 300% by 2050. Austria could also face a necessary increase in contributions to meet future requirements, as the Federal Ministry of Health reports.