/image alliance, Sebastian Gollnow
Berlin – Private health insurance (PKV) is against limiting personal contributions in nursing homes. According to a cost estimate published in Berlin by the Scientific Institute for Private Health Insurance (WIP).
A cap of €700 per month on personal contributions related to care would have led to additional costs of €8.1 billion in the first year of 2024. Driven by demographic changes, annual costs would then rise to €15.2 billion.
“In total, taxpayers would have to cover around €80 billion more in the period up to 2030. Even with less relief through a cap of €1,000 per month, the additional costs would rise to a total of €61.5 billion by 2030,” according to WIP.
“In times of budget gaps and rapidly rising social security contributions, there is no room for additional benefits in statutory nursing care insurance,” explained PKV association director Florian Reuther. The caps on personal contributions are a social policy with a sprinkler that is neither effective nor affordable.
The costs would be borne by taxpayers and ratepayers and especially younger generations, while people with private assets would also benefit. Reuther called for more personal responsibility and private provision.
Almost 70 percent of retired households could afford a place in a nursing home for several years using their income and assets. “For everyone else, social assistance provides targeted support based on needs.”
In early July, Caritas President Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa suggested that older people who have a certain amount of assets should pay more into care funds. The burden should not be placed solely on the younger generation and the wealthy should be spared.
By mid-July he had Association of substitute funds reported that those who need care at home are having to dig deeper and deeper into their own pockets. From July 1, those receiving care will pay a monthly personal contribution of 2,871 euros for the first year of their stay. This is 211 euros more than the previous year.
In the second year of your stay, the monthly contribution is now €2,620, an increase of €233. Rising costs mean that more and more elderly people are turning to social assistance. © kna/aerzteblatt.de