Increasing co-payments have been causing problems for many people in need of care in the home for years. Despite the latest reform steps, the burdens are reaching record levels. According to a DAK study, things are not getting any better. Anyone in need of care must fear poverty. The fund predicts a social assistance rate of 36 percent for residents by 2026.
According to a DAK study, the nursing home is increasingly becoming a “poverty trap” due to the massive increase in costs in inpatient care. Despite the latest reform steps, the burden on those in need of care has already reached a new record level this year, according to calculations by the Bremen health economist Heinz Rothgang on behalf of the health insurance company. He expects the social assistance rate among home residents to rise to 36 percent by 2026.
In the course of this year, the proportion of nursing home residents who have to claim social assistance will increase again to a third – and this despite significantly increased retirement income, as the DAK study showed.
The CEO of DAK-Gesundheit, Andreas Storm, demanded that the federal government set itself the nursing policy goal of limiting the social assistance rate in nursing homes to less than 30 percent. It is about a “fair financing mix of taxes and contributions” to cover the financial needs of 14 billion euros for a comprehensive care reform. “As announced in the coalition agreement, it must be urgently examined how the continuously increasing own shares can be further reduced,” he demanded.
Individual reform measures such as the introduction of graduated benefit supplements and the Housing Benefit Plus Act could have reduced the financial burden on those in need of care. “These steps were important. However, they are not sufficient to effectively limit the costs caused by the enormous price increases and the Collective Bargaining Act,” emphasized Storm.
According to the study, despite the reforms to date, from the middle of the year higher personal contribution values ??will be achieved than ever before. For those in need of care who live in the home for less than twelve months, the own contribution is reduced by five percent, but it was also more than 1000 euros on average nationwide in 2022 – and the trend is rising. Only for those in need of care who have been in a home for at least three years did the reform bring relief, which will last until 2026.
Before the implementation of the various reform regulations since the beginning of 2022, the proportion of personal contributions reached 36.8 percent, its highest value since the introduction of long-term care insurance. According to the information provided, this value was reduced to around 30.5 percent last year through the introduction of performance surcharges. But already this year, despite an above-average increase in pensions of more than 6 percent, the social assistance rate will rise again to 32.5 percent, and then to 36 percent by 2026.
The reform elements thus had “only a limited, but above all only a temporary effect,” said Rothgang. At the same time, the health expert pointed out that without the previous reform steps, the care-related personal contributions would not only double by 2026, but would triple. The social assistance rate would then be 46.4 percent.
The Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband called for the long-term care insurance to be expanded to include full long-term care insurance. This should pay for all care-related costs, those in need of care should only be billed for accommodation and meals.
“We have reached a point where the following applies: Anyone who needs care must fear poverty,” said the association’s general manager, Ulrich Schneider. “Where every third person falls into poverty and welfare as soon as he or she is dependent on care, the care insurance in its current form has lost its legitimacy.”
(This article was first published on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.)
