German Health Minister Nina Warken calls long‑term care insurance a 'sanierungsfall' amid reform push

Federal Health Minister Nina Warken described Germany’s statutory long‑term care insurance as a “sanierungsfall mit Ansage”, warning that a projected deficit of €7.5 billion for the next year, against total spending of €70 billion in 2025, cannot be closed by revenue increases alone. Her reform draft combines expense brakes with new earnings to avoid a blanket contribution rise. Key measures include raising the childless contribution rate from 4.2 % to 4.3 %, tightening eligibility criteria for care grades, delaying higher supplemental payments for nursing‑home residents, and reshaping pension contributions for family caregivers. The plan also promotes a “paradigm shift” toward preventive care and stronger support for home‑based services. Critics – including the German Nursing Management Association, the German Nursing Council and health‑economics experts – argue the cuts endanger patient safety and label the proposal a “catastrophe”. Warken counters that the reforms are necessary to preserve the insurance’s solvency and to adapt the system to demographic pressures, emphasizing that the changes are not a pure austerity measure but an attempt to modernise long‑term care provision.