Grand coalition plans higher care contributions

Employers warn against higher care contributions from grand coalition

03/11/2013

The next government is not yet standing, but already the Union and the SPD seem to agree to raise the contribution rate for long-term care insurance in a joint coalition. The employers warn against this step and plead for a cost-neutral reform.

Employer against increase in contributions
Even if the various politicians of Union and SPD in various working groups still argue about their plans for the coming grand coalition, at least in the point of the planned increase in the care contributions, they seem to be in agreement. The Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) has now warned the parties involved to agree to an increase in contributions to long-term care insurance. BDA President Dieter Hundt told the „Handelsblatt“: „It is of little use to workers and companies if politicians fully exclude tax increases and at the same time permanently increase the contribution burden in social insurance.“

Reform possible with no additional costs
Hundt further explained: „But this would be the case if the statutory reduction of the pension contribution rate by 0.6 percentage points is omitted and the burden of long-term care insurance contributions is increased.“ He also stated that the economy is not fundamentally opposed to reform, but such is also possible cost-neutral. „The Nursing Advisory Council of the Federal Government has expressly pointed this out“, so the employer president. On Thursday, CDU, CSU and SPD had discussed the topic of care. Thereafter, the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach expressed that the desired improvements with the current nursing rate are unlikely to be financed.

In the future more people in need of care and dementia patients
The Union negotiator in the Health Working Group, Jens Spahn, pointed out that there will be more people in need of care and people with dementia in the future: „It is consensus of all three parties that this will also require more services and will certainly be associated with more costs and higher contributions.“ Lauterbach, who holds the post of negotiator for the health of the SPD, pointed out that there was still no concrete agreement. His party considered an increase of 0.5 percentage points as necessary. The rate is still 2.05 percent and for childless 2.3 percent. Johannes Singhammer, health expert at the CSU, said that everyone involved was determined to do more for those who are cared for and those who care for them. That can not be done without more money.

Differences in the negotiations
The negotiations also revealed some major differences. The SPD, for example, is sticking to its idea of ​​citizens insurance. „We also pursue the concept of civil insurance for long-term care insurance“, so Lauterbach. The CDU health expert Spahn, however, holds against: „Citizens insurance will not exist in a grand coalition. Everyone who sees the election results knows what the circumstances are.“ By contrast, he campaigned for capital reserves in the care, similar to the private health insurance. His Union colleague Singhammer also said that people should continue to provide their own private health care.

Long-term care insurance: Pflege-Bahr often does not make sense
However, just a few months ago, the Stiftung Warentest came to the conclusion that such private measures often make no sense. They found that the state-sponsored Nursing Care Insurance, the so-called „Care-Bahr“, is insufficient in most cases to meet the needs in case of long-term care. At the „Care-Bahr“, Named after the outgoing health minister, since January 2013 the state has been subsidizing care insurance with five euros a month, provided that the insured pays at least ten euros a month in his own contribution and the insurance meets the government's requirements. (Ad)

Image: Maren Beßler