The health policy of Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn regarding the financing of the need for long-term care in inpatient nursing homes is being questioned by numerous politicians, as data from the Association of Substitute Health Insurance Funds (vdek) from 1 January 2020 has shown that on average, long-term care in Germany is becoming more and more expensive per month for people in need of long-term care and their families as personal contributions to be paid. Most recently, affected families paid an average of 1,940 euros, 110 euros more than at the beginning of last year. Home places were most expensive in NRW with an average of 2,357 euros, while in Saxony-Anhalt a personal contribution of „only“ 1,359 euros was required. Large regional differences are noticeable throughout Germany. On 1 January 2019, the own contribution for pure nursing and care was only 655 euros, but now it is already 731 euros on average. Baden-Württemberg leads in this area with 1,006 euros, while Thuringia only has to raise 421 euros from its own pocket. A similar picture emerges when it comes to financing the home costs for board and lodging. Here, those in need of care and their families in NRW pay the highest amount of 1,024 euros of their own contribution, while those affected in Saxony-Anhalt pay 573 euros (national average: 756 euros). The debate among many politicians is primarily about a fundamental restructuring of the financing of the need for nursing care in homes so that those affected are not socially disadvantaged and financially overburdened. The debate is therefore also about whether the nursing care insurance system of the future would not have to bear all the costs. A reform could then be carried out by means of federal subsidies from tax revenues, as the Schleswig-Holstein health minister Heiner Garg, an FDP member, considers to be sensible, for example. Other politicians, on the other hand, would rather see reductions in personal contributions or higher contributions to nursing care insurance, as second and third alternatives. It would also be possible to think about financing medical treatment care through SHI funds. Jens Spahn is in any case against full financing of the nursing care costs without co-payments. However, Green Party spokeswoman Kordula Schulz-Asche advises the Federal Minister of Health to hurry, as the implementation of his plans would take too much time with discussion events in the run-up.
